On the 14th, as the world stood stunned by the death of Patrick Swayze, another worthy yet less-celebrated celebrity also sadly shuffled off the mortal coil.
James Bateman, a.k.a. Henry Gibson, has passed away just one week before his 74th birthday.
Gaining popularity in the 70s on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and a cult following in the 80s as leader of the Illinois Nazis in The Blues Brothers, Gibson went on to create many memorable characters, most recently the eccentric Judge Clark Brown in Boston Legal.
Drama nerds may be inclined to wonder if Gibson’s chosen moniker was a reference to playwright Henrik Ibsen. And yes, it was.
And an entirely appropriate name it was, too. While mainly known for comedy, Gibson always managed to bring a dramatic gravity to even the lightest of roles, grounding the story and greatly improving everything he was in.
The world of television just got ever so slightly less interesting.
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