Charles Kimbrough, an actor nominated for both a Tony and an Emmy and played a straight-laced news anchor on “Murphy Brown” with Candice Bergen, died on January 11 in Culver City, California, his son confirmed on Sunday. He was 86.
Between 1988 and 1998, Kimbrough played newsman Jim Dial on the hit CBS sitcom “Murphy Brown.” In 1990, he was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. In the 2018 reboot, he played the same character for three episodes.
His death was first reported by The New York Times, and his son confirmed it to The Associated Press on Sunday.
Beth Howland, who played waitress Vera on the 1970s and 1980s CBS sitcom “Alice,” was Kimbrough’s wife. She died in 2016. They married in 2002, more than a decade after his first wife, Mary Jane (Wilson) Kimbrough, died in 2007.
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The Times says that Kimbrough leaves behind a sister named Linda Kimbrough, a son named John Kimbrough, and a stepdaughter named Holly Howland.
Kimbrough was born on May 23, 1936, and worked for many years in the New York theatre scene. In 1971, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the Steven Sondheim musical “Company” on Broadway.
But his role on “Murphy Brown,” where he played a stuffy newsman from a different generation than the main character, made him well-known, his son told the Times.
In Disney’s animated movie “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Kimbrough gave his voice to a gargoyle named Victor.
Jessa Martin is the author of Nogmagazine, A professional in writing by day, and novelist by night, she received her bachelor of arts in film from Howard University and her master of arts in media studies from the New School. A Brooklyn native, she is a lover of naps, cookie dough, and beaches, currently residing in the borough she loves, most likely multitasking.