Wednesday, September 16, 2009

RIP Henry Gibson (1935-2009)

The great character actor Henry Gibson passed away tonight‎ from cancer at the age of 73, days before his Birthday.

Before appearing in films and television series, the Germantown, Pennsylvnia native was a child star on the stage during the 1940s and during the late 1950s and was an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force.

His screen debut came in 1963 when he was cast in the Jerry Lewis film The Nutty Professor.

He made two other small film appearances in the early 1960s in Kiss Me, Stupid in 1964 and The Outlaws Is Coming in which he played a rather hip Indian named Charlie Horse.

His breakthrough came in 1968 when he was became a member of the regular cast of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" He stayed with the show until 1971...

His best known film role was probably his performance in Nashville as Haven Hamilton, a smarmy Country and Western singer in which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for best supporting actor.

Gibson's career carried on through the 1980s and 1990s when he appeared in many films, such as the comedy classic "The Blues Brothers" The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Joe Dante pics Innerspace and The 'burbs

He worked for the great Robert Altman again in the The Long Goodbye.

Gibson provided voice-overs for many children's animated series like "Smurfs", "Wuzzles" and "Galaxy High School"

He also appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson star packed drama Magnolia 10 years ago...

Gibson played an eccentric judge on the TV series Boston Legal and lent his voice to the just ended animated series "King of the Hill".

Gibson will be missed...

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