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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.

Lois Joan Geiger, his wife since 1966, died two years ago. The couple had three sons.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:... I almost wanna ask who's next, but I'm afraid what the answer might be.

Mikey wrote:No fair counting people who are trying their damndest on their own!