Celebrity Biographies
Henry gibson
We have seen him dozens of times on television and in the movies, always in supporting roles. He is one of those types of whom it is customary to say ‘his face sounds familiar to me’, although not even the most extreme moviegoers are capable of mentioning his name. Actor Henry Gibson had been in the movies since the 1960s. Some of his work as a country singer and Nazi leader will remain to be remembered. The actor died on September 16, 2009 in Los Angeles, at the age of 73.
His name was actually James Bateman, and he was born on September 21, 1935 in Germantown (Pennsylvania). He was a child actor who was on stage from an early age, although in the 1950s he became an intelligence officer in the Air Force. When he graduated he returned to acting, eventually making his big screen debut as one of Jerry Lewis ‘ students in The Nutty Professor . He decided to change his name to Henry Gibson, after Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen , because “if you say his name with a southern accent it sounds like Henry Gibson,” the actor explained.
After embodying brief roles in Bésame idiot and a multitude of series, Henry Gibson gained some notoriety in his country by playing one of the protagonists of the sitcom Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In , which consisted of a succession of sketches. There, despite being from the north, he played a poet with a southern accent, with such conviction that the governor of Alabama called him “one of the greatest talents to come out of Alabama since Tallulah Bankhead .”
His best film role was the country singer he played in Robert Altman ‘s Nashville , for which he earned his second Golden Globe nomination – he had also been nominated for the soap opera poet. Altman recruited him again to play a doctor in The Long Goodbye . Another director who used his services on several occasions was Joe Dante , who directed him in The Wonder Chip , Thou Shalt Not Kill Thou Neighbour , and Gremlins 2: The Next Breed .
Married to Lois Joan Geiger, with whom he has remained together until his death, Gibson had 3 children. They used to recruit him to play the witch, a role he played in the series Bewitched , Sabrina, Things of Witches and Bewitched . He also played a judge several times, most notably on the Boston Legal series , where he had a regular character. And he especially shone as the leader of the gang of Nazis who persecuted the protagonists in Rogues at full speed . He also had a small role in Paul Thomas Anderson ‘s Magnolia .