Longtime Malibu resident Henry Gibson, the veteran character actor whose decades-long career included such highlights as “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” “Nashville” and “Boston Legal,” died Sept. 14 at his home after a brief battle with cancer. He was 73.
Born James Bateman in Germantown, Pa. on Sept. 21, 1935, Gibson began acting professionally at the age of eight as a touring performer for nine years with the Mae Desmond Theatre. After graduating from Catholic University with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama, he served in France from 1957-60 as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Air Force, 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England.
Returning to New York, he developed the comic persona for which he would first gain fame: humble, wide-eyed poet laureate of Fairhope, Ala. “Henry Gibson” (a pun on the name of playwright Heinrick Ibsen). Numerous appearances on “The Tonight Show” and “Joey Bishop Show” led to his being flown out to Hollywood by Jerry Lewis to be cast in his feature-film debut, “The Nutty Professor.” A Broadway debut opposite Walter Matthau and Ruth Gordon in Lillian Hellman’s “My Mother, My Father and Me,” a role in Billy Wilder’s “Kiss Me, Stupid” and memorable guest appearances on classic TV shows such as “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “My Favorite Martian,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Bewitched” soon followed.
His big breakthrough came in 1968 as part of the original ensemble cast of the landmark number one rated “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” on which he performed for three seasons. There, each week, giant flower in hand, he recited the poems for which he became, perhaps, best well-known, introducing them with the catchphrase 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.”
Off-screen, Gibson was active as an environmentalist and used his fame to help support the then-burgeoning movement, contributing op-eds and poetry to publications such as The Washington Post, Manchester Guardian, Christian Science Monitor and The Progressive, as well as donating proceeds from the sale of a series of popular posters featuring his poetry to the then-fledgling Environmental Defense Fund.
After “Laugh-In,” in addition to scores of TV appearances, he returned to film with his portrayal of the evil Dr. Verringer in “The Long Goodbye,” the first of four films in which he appeared for director Robert Altman. Their second collaboration resulted in Gibson’s acclaimed Golden Globe nominated and National Society of Film Critics award-winning performance as country singer Haven Hamilton in Altman’s landmark “Nashville,” for which he also wrote many of his character’s songs.
In 2001, Gibson returned to Broadway in the Encores! New York City Center production of Rogers and Hart’s “A Connecticut Yankee.”
In television, recent notable work included a five-season stint as cantankerous Judge Clarence Brown on “Boston Legal” and multiple episodes as the voice of sardonic, eye-patched newspaperman Bob Jenkins on the animated “King Of The Hill.”
His wife of 41 years, Lois, died in 2007. He is survived by three sons, Jon, a business affairs executive at Universal Pictures; Charles, a director and two-time Academy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor; James, a screenwriter; and two grandchildren, Matthew and Miranda.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Friends of the Malibu Public Library.