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Monday, May 28, 2007

Comic Legend Charles Nelson Reilly Dies at age 76



Gameshow, sitcom guest roles, Tonight Show appearances, Charles Nelson Reilly was the master of the ridiculous in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's and still appeared occasionally up to this day. Generally having a few slugs before he went on the air, CNR, could keep the same demeanor through hours of Match Game tapings, and still get a laugh.
Wapella.com mourns the passing of the comedy great Charles Nelson Reilly (pictured here alongside Bloomington's own Maclean Stevenson).

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm always amazed at how versatile John Powers is. Two years ago, he won the Fred Sanford lookalike contest, hands down at Wapellafest. Now I see he's impersonating the late great Charles Nelson Reilly. Who's next? Burt Reynolds?

Anonymous said...

Mac Stevens was an old beau of my Grandmother's. We'd recently found evidence to back this up in the form of a letter to Grandma from the man himself. Had his own personalized stationary. Bit of a fancy lad.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't surprise me that Mac Stevenson had his own stationary...his dad was a dr. and the family was well-to-do

Anonymous said...

I thought he was imitating David Rivers...

CNR's loss is huge and will be felt on every celebrity-staffed game show. BHAM

Anonymous said...

CNR looks a bit like JBP or Fritz Jackson. I had never thought of JBP resembling Fritz prior to seeing this photo.

CNR's role on HR Puffinstuff was seminal work at the time. His battle with Sid and Marty Kroft put him on a children's TV blacklist from which he never recovered.

What has been omitted from obits I've read is the fact that he was the holder of the Burt Reynolds' Chair of Theatre at FSU. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

I expanded our cable package shortly after Gene Rayburn died to make sure that I had the Game Show network. Life is too short to not figure out how to catch a Match Game now and then.

You could always count on CNR making a strong exchage to the next 3 contestants on the lower level and making up for an uneventful stop with Brett Sommers. While Dawson was more consistently affectionate in the Feud, he was just as randy in Match Game. Sorry to hear about CNR. BBD

Anonymous said...

Richard D could be a bit surly on Match Game, too....but I'd say he was the contestants "go to" of choice 80% of the time as far as "final matches" go. Damn, that man could always be counted on for a match when the chips were down.

R.I.P. CNR.

AJW said...

The contestants may have gone to Dawson more often than the others,
however the viewing audience ALWAYS loved CNR and his crazy antics. With his passing, the Paul Lynde-style comic is no more.

Although I'm please to see Kansascat provide his commentary, I'm disappointed that Hoosiergato hasn't left us with some deep and meaningful statement. Could be he's in mouring considering the months it took him to recover from Gene Rayburn's passing.

I'd forgotten about the HR Puffinstuf role. Indeed it was groundbreaking stuff.

AW

Anonymous said...

Apologies, AW. I meant no disrespect to CNR, and was taking nothing away from him. Only commenting that Dawson was blue-steel when it came to matching when big money was on the line.

Moderator said...

Please give Brett Somers some slack, as Mrs. Jack Klugman, she surely deserves a special place in Match Game Hall of Fame.

Moderator

Anonymous said...

AW,

You are right. I've been left speechless by the passing of CNR. I'm going to need a lot of help in the upcoming days, and this online community is a lifeline. Courage.

HoosierGato

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