Charles Mayberry Kimbrough (May 23, 1936 – January 11, 2023) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as the straight-faced anchorman Jim Dial on ''

Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news presenter, news anch ...

''. In 1990, his performance in the role earned him a nomination for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series".

Biography

Born in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

, Kimbrough had extensive stage experience. He studied theater and drama at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

, and graduated in 1958. He earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree at Yale University's School of Drama. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Kimbrough and his first wife Mary Jane Wilson were part of the resident company of the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre where they appeared in such plays as

Georges Feydeau Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parents and raised in a ...

's '' Cat Among the Pigeons'' and

Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer ( ; January 26, 1929 – January 17, 2025) was an American cartoonist and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Pulitzer Prize for Editori ...

's ''The White House Murder Case''. In 1971, he was nominated for a Tony for best featured actor in a musical as Harry in

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

's ''

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

''. In 1984, he performed in the original Broadway cast of Sondheim's ''

Sunday in the Park with George ''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La G ...

''. He starred in the original Off-Broadway production of A.R. Gurney's comedy '' Sylvia'' in 1995. Around 1976 to 1977, he appeared in a commercial for Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs. In 1988, Kimbrough was cast as Jim Dial, a veteran network news anchor with the integrity and experience of an Edward R. Murrow or

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

, on the CBS sitcom ''

''. The series ran for 247 episodes over ten seasons, winning 17

s and three Golden Globes. Kimbrough was nominated for a

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In early Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies, the supporting categories were not always genre, or even gender, specific. Beginning ...

in 1990. In 1996, he voiced Victor, a

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

, in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's animated feature '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', a role he reprised in its direct-to-video sequel, '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame II'' and '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance''. Kimbrough was part of the cast of the Roundabout Theater Company's 2012 Broadway revival of Mary Chase's

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning play '' Harvey'' playing William R. Chumley, M.D., with

Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstandin ...

in the lead as Elwood P. Dowd. The show ran from June 14 to August 5, 2012, at New York's

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

Theatre. Kimbrough later reprised his role as Jim Dial in the 2018 revival of ''Murphy Brown''.

Personal life and death

In 2002, Kimbrough married actress and fellow ''

'' castmate Beth Howland, known for her television work as Vera Louise Gorman-Novak on the sitcom ''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

''. Howland died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

in December 2015 at the age of 74. Her death was not reported to the media until May 24, 2016. Kimbrough's son, John, founded, sang and played guitar for the St. Paul-based alternative rock band Walt Mink. Kimbrough died in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

, on January 11, 2023, at the age of 86.

Filmography

Television

Film

Video games

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimbrough, Charles 1936 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male television actors American male video game actors American male voice actors Indiana University Bloomington alumni Male actors from Saint Paul, Minnesota