Video taking off 12x its usual first day

Tom Skerritt's Steel Magnolias scene opens Sunday Morning's tribute

The remembrance also honors John Anderson, Noah Adams and other figures from music, journalism, sports and the arts.

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CBS Sunday Morning Story of October 26, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 111,866 views a day, 12 times a normal first day on this channel (9,567).

Tom Skerritt is arguing with Shirley MacLaine about a magnolia tree. That scene from Steel Magnolias opens CBS Sunday Morning's "Passage: In memoriam," before the film gives way to a photograph and a tribute to the actor.

The segment remembers Skerritt for a career that included Top Gun, Alien, Steel Magnolias and Picket Fences. Rather than beginning with a narrated account of those credits, it gives him a brief stretch of screen time opposite MacLaine, their characters disputing whose tree it is.

The upload drew about 86,000 views in 14 hours, already far beyond the channel's usual full-day audience for Shorts. In the comments, viewers name the performances they remember, with A River Runs Through It and Picket Fences recurring alongside his film roles.

The remembrance then widens into a musical photo montage. Country singer-songwriter John Anderson, journalists John Geddes, Ann Hornaday and Noah Adams, and actors Michael Gray, Richard Riehle and Alan Mandell are among those honored. Near the close, glass artist Paul Stankard's photograph appears beside an example of his intricate work.

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