Thursday, May 17th, 2012
After being sick for more than a year, Charles Nelson Reilly, 76, a Broadway performer and television personality, died last Friday in Los Angeles due to complications from pneumonia.
Reilly began his career on Broadway in 1962 in the role of Bud Frump in ?How to Succeed in Business? and later on was well-known for his over-the-top appearances on ?the Tonight Show? and game shows such as ?Match Game? and ?Hollywood Squares? in the 1970s and 80s, ?Without Really Trying?.
He won a Tony Award for this role and later was nominated again at the Tony Awards for playing Cornelius in ?Hello, Dolly!? and in 1997 for directing Julie Harris and Charles Durning in a revival of ?The Gin Game?.
A feature film entitled The Life of Reilly in 2006 was based on his last work which was an autobiographical one-man show called Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly.
Reilly is survived by his partner Patrick Hughes. No memorial plans have been announced.
