Charles Kimbrough

Charles Mayberry Kimbrough (May 23, 1936 – January 11, 2023) was an American stage, television, and film actor born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He studied theater and drama at Indiana University Bloomington, graduating in 1958, and subsequently earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University's School of Drama. His Broadway career spanned more than four decades, from 1969 to 2012.

Early in his professional life, Kimbrough and his first wife, Mary Jane Wilson, were members of the resident company at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre during the late 1960s and early 1970s, where they performed in productions including Georges Feydeau's Cat Among the Pigeons and Jules Feiffer's The White House Murder Case. His Broadway work during this period included Stephen Sondheim's Company, in which he played Harry. That performance earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1971, as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.

Kimbrough returned to Sondheim's work in 1984 as a member of the original Broadway cast of Sunday in the Park with George. His other Broadway credits include the play Hay Fever and One Night Stand. In 2012, he joined the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Harvey, playing William R. Chumley, M.D., alongside Jim Parsons as Elwood P. Dowd. The production ran from June 14 to August 5, 2012, at Studio 54 in New York. Outside of Broadway, he starred in the original Off-Broadway production of A.R. Gurney's comedy Sylvia in 1995.

On television, Kimbrough became widely recognized for portraying Jim Dial, a veteran network news anchor, on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown beginning in 1988. The series ran for 247 episodes over ten seasons, winning 17 Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes. His performance earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1990. He reprised the role when the series was revived in 2018. In 1996, Kimbrough provided the voice of Victor, a gargoyle, in Disney's animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a role he returned to in its direct-to-video sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and in the video game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

In 2002, Kimbrough married actress Beth Howland, who had been his castmate in Company and was known for her role as Vera Louise Gorman-Novak on the sitcom Alice. Howland died of lung cancer in December 2015 at the age of 74. Kimbrough's son, John, founded the St. Paul-based alternative rock band Walt Mink, in which he sang and played guitar. Charles Kimbrough died in Culver City, California, on January 11, 2023, at the age of 86.