Match Game’s Charles Nelson Reilly Dies Of Pneumonia
Posted May 28, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He was the man with the quick quip, who became known more for his game show retorts than his acting abilities. And he was a pioneer in the gay community when homosexuality was still a taboo topic on TV. Charles Nelson Reilly, who parlayed a decade-long appearance in the upper right chair on “The Match Game” in the 70s into a major career, has died.
Reilly succumbed to complications of pneumonia on Friday after having been ill for almost a year. His game show history managed to hide a successful acting past that casual fans may not have ever been aware of. Reilly won a Tony Award for his role as Bud Frump in the original Broadway musical production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in 1962. He also received nominations for roles in “Hello Dolly!” and “The Gin Game.”
His facility with a fast ad lib – often with a sexual innuendo – landed him on the Johnny Carson version of the Tonight Show 95 times. But it was his game show moments that cemented his fame with most in North America. He was the longest serving panelist on the Gene Rayburn-hosted Match Game, staying with the daytime staple from 1973-1982, and later appearing on an updated version in the 90s, as well as on the “New Hollywood Squares.”
But his game show life was one he would come to regret, when Hollywood began seeing him more as a panelist than an actor. “You can’t do anything else once you do game shows,” he remarked in 2001. “You have no career.”
Reilly had a delivery and a laugh that were impossible to mistake or forget. He was openly gay in an era when that wasn’t seen often on TV, recalling the time a network executive sneered that “they don’t let queers on television.” But he never attempted to hide his obvious sexual orientation, and became known for the colourful ascots he often wore on the show.
His first TV role came in the now obscure tube-version of “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” in 1968. He was hidden under make-up but his voice gave him away in the classic kids’ show ” Lidsville” in 1971, an odd live action program which many baby boomers swear was influenced by drugs. And he was the voice of The Dirty Bubble on Spongebob Squarepants. Some also remember Reilly from his dramatic appearance on “The X Files” in which he played a cynical journalist looking into the UFO phenomenon.
Reilly was just 76 and is survived by his partner, Rick Hughes.
To watch Reilly on “Match Game” click the following link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-vE4HqEToGw
Photo credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment
