Charles Nelson Reilly

[snarkblossom]

Charles should have had his own game show, it would have been hilarious.

[ahenobarbus]

Here's a good interview with him, from 2001.

"They couldn't act for shit!" he said. "They stunk! If we had to watch Hal Holbrook and Steve McQueen do the brothers scene from Death of a Salesman once more, we'd go out of our minds!'"

...

"I was on The Tonight Show once," he said, "and Siskel and Ebert were on; they were in tuxedos, and they were there to push their new book, The Complete List of Movies . Because I was such a snot nose-I was on a hundred times, you gotta think of something to say-I took a Halliwell's film guide, and I said to Mr. Carson, 'Would you please look up my first two Columbia motion pictures? Let's Rock and my second picture, Two Tickets to Paris. ' So he looked up in the Halliwell book, and they were there. Then I said, 'Now look it up in this complete book'-and they weren't there. So I said, 'Look, this is not complete, because my two movies are not in it. I'm sorry to be such a rude person, but I'm not inaccurate.'

"Well, the audience was cheering. I said I was giving their book two thumbs down. They were fucking pissed; they got all dressed up and flew out 3,000 miles. They were mad as hell."

...

"And I loved Ella Fitzgerald," he said. "She would see me on a plane and she would yell, 'Charles, it's Ella!' And I'd say, 'Ella who ? I know a lot of Ellas.' She used to go shopping at the same little store I did. Near her home. And one Christmas Eve morning, she was with her granddaughter pushing the wagon around-no one was in the store-and the Christmas carols were playing, and I got on the microphone. And I said, 'Is there a girl singer in the store that could scat "Away in the Manger"? Do we have anyone? Please come forward. Can you scat "Oh Holy Night"?' And she would wet her pants, we would laugh. She loved to laugh. And Sammy Davis was adorable.

[Ninja Bunny]

'Is there a girl singer in the store that could scat "Away in the Manger"? Do we have anyone? Please come forward. Can you scat "Oh Holy Night"?' And she would wet her pants, we would laugh. She loved to laugh. And Sammy Davis was adorable.

Aw!

RIP Charles, the world is a little less funny without you.

[Beyle]

I'm sad that Charles has died. He was pretty much the only reason I loved watching Match Game and the Hollywood Squares.

I loved his ribald sense of humor.

I'll miss you Charles!

[Deleted]

I remember that he was one of the crowd in the Hartford circus fire and he always said afterwards that he couldn't stand to be in crowds because of it.

Poor guy. He was pretty goofy-the type who just likes to make everyone laugh and doesn't care about being embarassed.

[vanillabean]

mrscathead said:

RIP!

My mom never guessed he was gay, if you can believe it. I would sit there beside her on the couch and just giggle to myself.

Also, I loathe Alec Baldwin but he did very great send-up of CNR on SNL.

Here's the clip. I have fond memories of Match Game. RIP Charles.

[Beyle]

A younger comedian who made me laugh in the way that CNR did is Jim J. Bullock. He cracked me up on Hollywood Squares.

I would've cracked up crazy if Charles and Jim had been on a game show together.

[Deleted]

borborygmus said:

Am I misremembering here: wasn't he on H.R. PufNstuff or one of those weird, trippy half-puppet things in the early 70s or late 60s?

Also, I always got the impression that he was scary-smart underneath the funny.

No that was Lidsville with the puppets dressed as hats. CNR was the villain and Butch "Eddie Munster" Patrick was the hero.

[may2]

He would do any game show. He once appeared with Julie Harris on Tattletales. He did direct her in the Belle of Amhurst.

[Spinderella]

He was seriously the best. He had the most infectous laugh and he could kill an audience. I love watching Match Game and seeing him laugh at his own jokes.

R.I.P, funny man