Henry Gibson

Henry Gibson, born James Bateman on September 21, 1935, in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American actor, comedian, and poet who worked across stage, television, and film until his death on September 14, 2009. He adopted the stage name Henry Gibson, a phrase that sounds identical to the name of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. He also used the name Olsen Gibson at certain points in his career.

Gibson began performing at age eight, spending nine years as a touring performer with the Mae Desmond Theatre. He graduated from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and subsequently served as an intelligence officer with the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing of the United States Air Force in France from 1957 to 1960. During the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, he made numerous appearances on Tonight Starring Jack Paar, frequently reciting original poetry. Early in his entertainment career he developed a comedy persona centered on a poet from Fairhope, Alabama. In 1962, he recorded a comedy album titled Alligator on Liberty Records, which was reissued in 1968 under the title ...by Henry Gibson following his rising profile on television.

His Broadway career brought him to the stage in 1963, when he appeared in My Mother, My Father and Me. That same year, a 1962 appearance on Tonight Starring Jack Paar coincided with guest host Jerry Lewis, who was sufficiently taken with Gibson to cast him in The Nutty Professor. The role helped accelerate his career in film and television. He subsequently appeared as the poetry-reciting cowboy character Quirt Manly on The Beverly Hillbillies in 1964 and made an appearance on My Favorite Martian around the same period.

From 1968 to 1971, Gibson was a featured performer on the television sketch-comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, a tenure for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in 1971. His recurring character on the program was a poet who would step out from behind a stage flat in a suit and tie, holding a large artificial flower, bow formally, announce the title of his poem in an ironic Southern accent, deliver the verse, and retreat. The poems frequently carried satirical or political content. He also appeared regularly in the show's Cocktail Party segments as a Catholic priest. In 1968, Gibson appeared on Bewitched as Napoleon Bonaparte, and returned to the series in 1970 as Tim O'Shanter, a leprechaun. He made recurring appearances on the anthology series Love, American Style between 1969 and 1974, and had appeared on The Dick Van Dyke Show reciting the poem "Keep a-Goin'."

Gibson's film work in the 1970s included voicing Wilbur the pig in the Hanna-Barbera animated feature Charlotte's Web in 1973. His most acclaimed screen performance came in Robert Altman's Nashville in 1975, in which he portrayed country music star Haven Hamilton. The role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and the National Society of Film Critics award. He appeared in three additional Altman films: The Long Goodbye, A Perfect Couple, and Health. In 1980, he played the leader of the Illinois Nazis in John Landis's The Blues Brothers, a role that became one of his most recognized screen appearances. That same year he appeared on The Dukes of Hazzard as Will Jason in the episode "Find Loretta Lynn." In 1978, he had appeared in The New Adventures of Wonder Woman as the villain Mariposa, and in 1981 he appeared in The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

In the 1989 Joe Dante comedy The 'Burbs, starring Tom Hanks, Gibson played the villain. He reunited with Dante in 1990 for a cameo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In 1996, he took on a dramatic role as former train conductor Robinson in the independent film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day, and that same year provided the voice of Adolf Eichmann in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night. His 1999 appearance in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia cast him as an eccentric barfly who antagonizes the character Donnie Smith, played by William H. Macy. Later film credits included a starring role in The Luck of the Irish in 2001 and the role of Father O'Neil in Wedding Crashers in 2005.

Gibson was also an active voice actor in animation, contributing to The Biskitts, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy as Lord Pain, King of the Hill as reporter Bob Jenkins, and Rocket Power as neighbor Merv Stimpleton. His television guest work included the role of Ferengi character Nilva in the 1998 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Profit and Lace" and the character Marul in a season five episode of Stargate SG-1. His final major television role was Judge Clark Brown on Boston Legal, a recurring part he held from 2004 to 2008.

On April 6, 1966, Gibson married Lois Joan Geiger. The couple had three sons: Jonathan David Gibson, an executive at Universal Pictures; Charles Alexander Gibson, a director and visual effects supervisor; and James Gibson, a screenwriter. Lois Gibson died on May 6, 2007. Henry Gibson died of cancer on September 14, 2009, and was cremated at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.