Actor Henry Gibson Dies at 73

[Zoneboy]

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Henry Gibson, a wry comic character actor whose career included "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "Nashville" and "Boston Legal," died Monday at his home in Malibu after a brief battle with cancer. He was 73.

Gibson's breakthrough came in 1968 when he was cast as a member of the original ensemble of NBC's top-rated "Laugh-In," on which he performed for three seasons. Each week, a giant flower in his hand, he recited a signature poem, introducing them with the catch phrase that became his signature: "A Poem, by Henry Gibson."

The poems proved so popular that they led to the release of two comedy albums, "The Alligator" and "The Grass Menagerie," as well as a book, "A Flower Child's Garden of Verses."

After "Laugh-In," he played the evil Dr. Verringer in "The Long Goodbye" (1973), the first of four films in which he appeared for director Robert Altman. Their second collaboration came in "Nashville" (1975), in which Gibson earned a Golden Globe nomination and a National Society of Film Critics supporting-actor award for his performance as unctuous country singer Haven Hamilton. He also wrote his character's songs.

In television, Gibson's recent work included a five-season stint as cantankerous Judge Clarence Brown on ABC's "Boston Legal" and providing the voice for sardonic, eye-patched newspaperman Bob Jenkins on Fox's animated series "King of the Hill."

Born James Bateman in Germantown, Pa., on Sept. 21, 1935, Gibson began acting professionally at age 8. After graduating from Catholic University, he served in France from 1957-60 as an intelligence officer with the Air Force, then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

Back in New York, the actor developed the comic persona of "Henry Gibson" (a pun on the name of playwright Henrik Ibsen), a humble, wide-eyed poet laureate from Fairhope, Ala. Appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "The Joey Bishop Show" led to him being flown out to Hollywood by Jerry Lewis to be cast in "The Nutty Professor" (1963).

Also that year, Gibson appeared in his Broadway debut opposite Walter Matthau and Ruth Gordon in Lillian Hellman's "My Mother, My Father and Me."

Other memorable film roles for Gibson included a turn as the voice of Wilbur the Pig in the animated "Charlotte's Web" (1973); as an Illinois Nazi pursuing John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in "The Blues Brothers" (1980); as a menacing neighbor opposite Tom Hanks in "The 'Burbs" (1989); as flamboyant barfly Thurston Howell in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" (1999); and as a befuddled priest in "Wedding Crashers" (2005).

In 2001, he returned to Broadway in the Encores! New York City Center production of Rogers & Hart's "A Connecticut Yankee."

Offscreen, Gibson was active as an environmentalist; he contributed opinion pieces and poetry to publications such as the Washington Post and donated proceeds from the sale of posters featuring his poetry to the then-fledgling Environmental Defense Fund.

Gibson is survived by three sons -- Jon, a business affairs executive at Universal Pictures; Charles, a director and two-time Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor; and James, a screenwriter -- and grandchildren Matthew and Miranda.

Memorial services are pending. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Friends of the Malibu Public Library.

[catlover79]

I remember him most as the leprechaun on a guest spot of Bewitched. He was a very talented character actor.

[Scoobiedoo30]

RIP

[MickeyMac]

I really liked him in Laugh In, and in the Blues Brothers too. These so called modern day comedians can learn a lot from Henry Gibson


RIP

[Theda Bara]

=( I love Henry Gibson; especially when he appeared on Laugh-In. God Bless him and his family.

[Cactus Jack]

He was great in Wedding Crashers too, and the afromentioned Laugh In and Blues Brothers

[Marvo301]

Henry Gibson

[comedyfreak]

RIP Henry you'll be missed.

[sbeamish]

A Poem

They filled our youthful lives with glee,
on Monday nights, on NBC,
with jokes about the atom bomb,
the Pope, the pill and Vietnam.

We were so sure those times would last,
but life goes by so awfully fast.
It's more than 40 years today.
We watch our old friends pass away.

But memories will never budge.
We won't forget, "Here come da judge."
And I shall try to not be gloomy,
though life will always, "Sock it to me."

by Henry Gibson (Not really. It's by me.)

[JT]

Originally Posted by sbeamish

A Poem

They filled our youthful lives with glee,
on Monday nights, on NBC,
with jokes about the atom bomb,
the Pope, the pill and Vietnam.

We were so sure those times would last,
but life goes by so awfully fast.
It's more than 40 years today.
We watch our old friends pass away.

But memories will never budge.
We won't forget, "Here come da judge."
And I shall try to not be gloomy,
though life will always, "Sock it to me."

by Henry Gibson (Not really. It's by me.)

Great poem.

I loved Henry and the whole gang on Laugh-In when TRIO ran the reruns on weekday afternoons one summer. Just some funny, mindless entertainment.

[James28]

As a person whose family can no longer accept death before the birthdate, this is another case. Henry Gibson should be 74 at the time of his death instead of 73.

[MrCleveland]

He did well in the movie Blues Brothers.

Now the flower that he holds will never sprout again.

[Retro4Life]

Henry.