RIP Henry Gibson

Henry Gibson 1935-2009 EmpireOnline

Henry Gibson, whose name you might not know but whose face you'll almost certainly recognise, has died at home in Malibu, a week before his 74th birthday.Gibson's hangdog expression disguised a great talent for deadpan comedy. His first movie role was in Jerry Lewis' original The Nutty Professor in 1963, and he was a regular on the sketch show Rowan and Martin's Laugh In from 1968 to 1971 alongside Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn. One of his characters was a flower-wielding poet, all of whose material was written by Gibson himself.Robert Altman cast him four times, in Nashville, The Long Goodbye, A Perfect Couple and Health, and Joe Dante used him three times, giving him the role of Tom Hanks' nemesis in The 'Burbs, Mr Wormwood in Innerspace, and a cameo in Gremlins 2. He was the leader of the Illinois Nazis in John Landis' The Blues Brothers. »

In recent years he'd had a recurring role on Boston Legal as a judge, and played the priest officiating several of the weddings in Wedding Crashers. His final role was in Rob Schneider's directorial debut Big Stan last year.