RIP, Charles Nelson Reilly....

[Guest jeffOH]

I loved Reilly as Claymore Gregg in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and also as Horatio Hoodoo on Lidsville.

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TV Celebrity Charles Nelson Reilly, 76 dies

 

Associated Press

Tuesday, May 29, 2007; Page B06

 

 

Charles Nelson Reilly, 76, the Tony Award winner who became known for his ribald appearances on "The Tonight Show" and various game shows, died May 25 in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia.

 

In 1962, Mr. Reilly appeared as Bud Frump in the original Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." The role won him a Tony Award.

 

Charles Nelson Reilly is seen in this Feb. 23, 1987 file photo in New York. Reilly, the Tony Award winner who later became known for his ribald appearances on the "Tonight Show" and various game shows, has died. He was 76. (Rick Maiman - AP)

 

He was nominated for a Tony again for playing Cornelius in "Hello, Dolly!" In 1997, he received another nomination for directing Julie Harris and Charles Durning in a revival of "The Gin Game."

 

After moving to Hollywood in the 1960s, he appeared as the nervous Claymore Gregg on TV's "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and as a featured guest on "The Dean Martin Show."

 

He gained fame by becoming what he described as a "game show fixture" in the 1970s and '80s. He was a regular on programs including "Match Game" and "Hollywood Squares," often wearing giant glasses and colorful suits with ascots.

 

His larger-than-life persona and affinity for double-entendres also landed him on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show more than 95 times.

 

Mr. Reilly ruefully conceded that his wild game-show appearances adversely affected his acting career. "You can't do anything else once you do game shows," he told the Advocate, a national gay magazine, in 2001. "You have no career."

 

His final work was an autobiographical one-man show, "Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly," about his life growing up in the Bronx. The title grew out of the fact that when he would act out as a child, his mother would often admonish him to "save it for the stage."

 

The stage show was made into the 2006 feature film, "The Life of Reilly."

 

Survivors include his partner, Patrick Hughes.

[+ ArVaGuy]

Thanks for posting this notice about Charles Nelson Rilley.

 

I fondly remember him on as Claymore Gregg when I watched that show as a kid. And who can forget the flamboyant carrying on as a panelist on Match Game. Between him and Brett Somers, Gene Rayburn did not have a chance of getting a laugh. Perhaps the younger folks will recall his cameo in an episode of The XFiles. Gillian Anderson is purported to have said it was one of the funniest scene's she ever filmed on that production.

 

According to IMDb, Rilley is quoted as saying: "When I die, it's going to read, 'Game Show Fixture Passes Away'. Nothing about the theater, or Tony Awards, or Emmys. But it doesn't bother me."

 

His film, The Life of Rilley is making the rounds of various gay film festivals. I will certainly make the effort to see it.

[Lankypeters]

I saw him in on Broadway in "How to Succeed ---," "Dolly," and "Skyscraper." Some obits stinted on his considerable career on the NY stage.

 

 

Lankypeters

[NorthWoods]

Do not forget his work in Lidsville, the trippy-est of all the 1970s Syd and Marty Kroft creations:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac364_Dvbxk

[Guest jeffOH]

>Do not forget his work in Lidsville, the trippy-est of all

>the 1970s Syd and Marty Kroft creations:

>

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac364_Dvbxk

 

Thanks Northwoods! That's some good drugs they were doing then, huh? :-) The koo-koo-kookiest. LOL

[arthur]

I realize that I am dating myself, but I saw Charles Nelson Reilly in the original Broadway production of "Bye Bye Birdie". He was at that time a very young Dick Van Dyke's understudy. I don't recall why Van Dyke did not perform that evening, and I was certainly disappointed when I first found out that his understudy was going to replace him. Nevertheless I thought that Reilly gave an excellent performance.

[Guest jeffOH]

>I realize that I am dating myself...

 

Ok, this is SO, RM ;-) , but here goes. I'm a big The Nanny fan. There's an exchange between Niles and >> C.C.. "...I'm dating myself".>>> "Oh please, even YOU can do better than YOU!" replied Niles. I laugh every time someone says that now.