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Charles Nelson ReillyAdd to My CelebsAge 76 (passed away May. 25th, 2007) Birthday Jan. 13th, 1931 Born in The Bronx, New York, USA Height 6' 2" |
Charles Nelson Reilly's Main TV Roles
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Main Movie Roles1994 - A Troll in Central Park1992 - Rock-A-Doodle 1989 - All Dogs Go to Heaven 1984 - Cannonball Run II 1957 - A Face in the Crowd |
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB
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TRIVIA:
- Reilly was quite candid about the problems he had during the production of "Hello Dolly!", particularly with director 'Gower Champion' (qv) and star 'Carol Channing' (qv). He did, however, have the benefit of playing opposite 'Eileen Brennan (I)' (qv), who was playing the role of Irene Malloy, and later performed with her in a cabaret act.
- At age 13, he was in the audience during the Ringling Bros. Circus tent fire in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944, which claimed the lives of 168 people. The mother of his neighbor friend had taken the two boys to the show and the three managed to escape physically unharmed. Charles was saved by an older sister also in attendance, who lowered him from the side of the bleachers because the bottleneck below made it practically impossible to get out any other way. For the rest of his life, he had a fear of sitting in a large audience despite being a theater actor and director.
- A very close friend of 'Burt Reynolds (I)' (qv), Reilly moved to Florida in 1979 to teach at the Burt Reynolds Institute. He also ran an acting school in North Hollwyood and taught at the HB Studio headed by 'Herbert Berghof' (qv) and wife 'Uta Hagen' (qv); among his students were 'Bette Midler' (qv), 'Liza Minnelli' (qv), 'Lily Tomlin' (qv) and 'Christine Lahti (I)' (qv).
- In addition to his Tony win for "How to Succeed...", Reilly also won a New York Drama Critic's Award for the same role. Moreover, he was nominated again for a Tony for playing Cornelius Hackl in "Hello, Dolly!" opposite 'Carol Channing' (qv) in 1964. In 1997 he received a third nomination for directing 'Julie Harris (I)' (qv) and 'Charles Durning' (qv) in a revival of "The Gin Game".
- Was 'Dick Van Dyke' (qv)'s understudy in "Bye-Bye Birdie" on Broadway, where they met.
- Reilly's openly gay TV persona was quite ahead of its time. He recalled a network executive telling him, "They don't let queers on television." In rebuttal, he was a game show fixture on such shows as _"The Match Game" (1962)_ (qv) and _"The Hollywood Squares" (1965)_ (qv); was a guest on the _"The Tonight Show" (1962)_ (qv) with 'Johnny Carson (I)' (qv) more than 95 times; earned an Emmy nomination for his second-banana work on _"The Ghost & Mrs. Muir" (1968)_ (qv) and appeared on Saturday morning children's shows such as _"Lidsville" (1971)_ (qv).
- 'Alec Baldwin' (qv) did a hilarious take-off on Reilly on a _"Saturday Night Live" (1975)_ (qv) sketch in which he was being interviewed by an overly-fawning _"Inside the Actors Studio" (1994)_ (qv) host 'James Lipton' (qv) played by 'Will Ferrell' (qv).
- Once worked as a night mail boy at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.
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