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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Death / Celeb / Film RIP Henry Gibson

Posted by David Schmader on Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 10:29 AM

Mary got her mention in the Morning News, but a moment's silence for Henry Gibson, the multifaceted comic actor who got his big break reciting joke poetry on Laugh-In, earned raves in one of the centerpiece roles in Robert Altman's classic Nashville, and was most recently seen in a recurring role on TV's Boston Legal, who died this week at age 73.

From the Los Angeles Times obit:

Gibson was still known as Jim Bateman in the early '60s when he was living in New York City, where his roommate was another struggling young actor—Jon Voight, whom he had met when they were both students at Catholic University. Voight recalled Wednesday that they developed a small comedy act that they performed at a couple of auditions featuring two naive hillbilly characters. Voight said he came up with the names: Harold and Henry Gibson, the latter a derivative of playwright Henrik Ibsen's name.

RIP Henry Gibson, who to me will always be Nashville's Haven Hamilton. Here's a song Gibson wrote and performed in the 1976 film, a crap-country spoof so good it's become beloved by crap-country lovers who don't realize it's satire.

Comments (5) RSS

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...and this concludes our "celebrity deaths come in threes" for this week, right?

Posted by Old Mama Chips on September 17, 2009 at 10:54 AM

I hate the Illinois Nazis

Posted by Urgutha Forka on September 17, 2009 at 11:03 AM

Oh, you stole my comment!

Also, I'm disappointed in the lack of a nod to his role in The Blues Brothers. He was the 23rd most talented member of that cast.

Posted by gillsans on September 17, 2009 at 11:10 AM

don't forget this gem;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUn1ZhJc4…

Posted by Jason Josephes

on September 17, 2009 at 11:16 AM

I was wondering when you'd post this...

He was so good in this movie...Haven starts out so weaselly but by the end of the movie he steps up to the plate with the great "This isn't Dallas" speech.

And, ALL his songs were brilliantly awful.

A toast to Henry Gibson.

Posted by michael strangeways