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Rest In Peace
Charles Nelson Reilly

Hey guys. Quint here. I must admit, I have an addiction. A bad one. I was first hooked when they began selling it to kids in the '80s. It started off small and harmless, but Nickelodeon acted as a gateway drug.

I started with Double Dare and Nick Arcade and Finders Keepers. That led me to The Price Is Right, Supermarket Sweep, Jeopardy, Family Feud, Password, $25,000 Pyramid and Wheel of Fortune. In my teenage years I broke my addiction, but then a new pusher came into town offering unsurpassed quantities of my drug of choice. Game Show Network.

That's where I met Charles Nelson Reilly.



For the last five years or so, I've been watching the seemingly endless episodes of Match Game, which featured him on most episodes. The game, if you don't know it, had two people competing for cash prizes. They were given a sentence like Mad Libs, where you had to fill in a blank. They guessed a word to put in there and the object was to guess the word that the celebrity panel would pick.

There were 6 people on this panel and Charles Nelson Reilly was almost always one of them, sitting in the top right. He always stood out to me. Not for his huge glasses or his flashy clothes. That was all surface stuff. What really made me notice him was his sense of humor. He loved pushing the envelope and loved testing the limits of 70s daytime TV. His sexual innuendos and barbed play fights with Brett Somers always made me laugh.

I also caught him on Hollywood Squares quite a lot and his attitude was the same. Have fun and throw everything else out the window.

This is how I knew Charles Nelson Reilly, but it's by no means the extent of his life. He's also a Tony award winning actor and he also directed for the stage quite a bit. He was one of the first openly gay men in TV and his persistence paved the way for acceptance.

He was HooDoo on Lidsville, he made an uncredited appearance in Elia Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD and he appeared all over television, from Laugh-In to The Larry Sanders Show to The Love Boat to The Drew Carrey Show to The X-Files.

In movies, he added his voice to ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS and appeared in CANNONBALL RUN II.

He died last Friday, at the age of 76, due to complications from pneumonia.

You will be missed, sir. My thoughts are with Mr. Reilly's friends, family and fans.




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First
by The_Countess
May 28th, 2007
05:52:54 PM
So gay he went all the way around to straight again.
by Ommadawn1959
May 28th, 2007
05:58:25 PM
CLAYMORE!
by OtisSpofford
May 28th, 2007
06:07:18 PM
I remember watching him as a kid
by CherryValance
May 28th, 2007
06:08:23 PM
Flame On, Charley!
by Dataset
May 28th, 2007
06:13:09 PM
"The Life of Reilly": His last film
by gamerawangi
May 28th, 2007
06:16:23 PM
The contestant should've gotten a point for "pillows."
by themikejonas
May 28th, 2007
06:16:30 PM
Jose Chung
by flossygomez
May 28th, 2007
06:17:35 PM
Well crap.. that sucks..
by LargoJr
May 28th, 2007
06:28:13 PM
"How's *that* for a topper? Hyun-hyun-hyun!"
by GiggityGoo
May 28th, 2007
06:29:30 PM
Lidsville Was The Koo-koo-kookiest
by Jinxo
May 28th, 2007
06:30:40 PM
"Dead Milkmen Serrated Edge lyrics"
by ShogunMaster
May 28th, 2007
06:44:15 PM
Alec Baldwin's impression on SNL was so great
by BadMrWonka
May 28th, 2007
06:54:05 PM
and jfp2006?
by BadMrWonka
May 28th, 2007
06:58:06 PM
MATCH GAME was awesome in the day
by Sir Loin
May 28th, 2007
06:59:50 PM
jfp2006
by tristeele
May 28th, 2007
07:01:06 PM
That episode of Millennium was da bomb!!!
by KnightShift
May 28th, 2007
07:01:17 PM
via this Obit ive learnt something...
by Obscura
May 28th, 2007
07:13:01 PM
Don't forget about Lidsville.
by mrfan
May 28th, 2007
07:13:20 PM
Hey Quint, did he ever have a slap fight?
by leeVSbenway
May 28th, 2007
07:13:34 PM
I'll be checking out "Life of..."
by Mister Man
May 28th, 2007
07:23:43 PM
I LOVE CHARLES NELSON REILLY
by Bibo
May 28th, 2007
07:30:24 PM
Best Millennium Line
by Jinxo
May 28th, 2007
07:49:16 PM
RIP
by RenoNevada2000
May 28th, 2007
08:04:48 PM
Damn
by KarmicRelief
May 28th, 2007
08:07:47 PM
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir TV Series
by glodene
May 28th, 2007
08:12:20 PM
One of the greats on stage
by Larry of Arabia
May 28th, 2007
08:17:00 PM
I recognize all the guys
by Jor-El23
May 28th, 2007
08:20:24 PM
HELP PLEASE
by RokurGepta
May 28th, 2007
08:30:32 PM
Great call mrfan
by slone13
May 28th, 2007
08:33:20 PM
He was a man's man...
by Simpsonian
May 28th, 2007
08:40:36 PM
Rest in peace Charles. You
by bobster52
May 28th, 2007
08:57:25 PM
Rest In _____
by chrth
May 28th, 2007
09:02:38 PM
R.I.P.
by Santien
May 28th, 2007
09:09:44 PM
THANK YOU Charles Nelson Reilly xoxo
by CarmillaVonDoom
May 28th, 2007
09:10:32 PM
...and LONG LIVE GENE RAYBURN
by CarmillaVonDoom
May 28th, 2007
09:13:03 PM
CNR and Paul Lynde - together again
by ArcadianDS
May 28th, 2007
09:16:34 PM
how to blow a joke in 1 easy lesson
by ArcadianDS
May 28th, 2007
09:17:00 PM
Don't worry Obscura...
by CarmillaVonDoom
May 28th, 2007
09:21:12 PM
"Life of Reilly" trailer
by gamerawangi
May 28th, 2007
09:26:31 PM
so sad
by stvnhthr
May 28th, 2007
09:27:46 PM
KNOCKERS
by George Newman
May 28th, 2007
09:43:16 PM
These Bob Mackie gowns are FAB-u-lous!!!
by Osmosis Jones
May 28th, 2007
09:45:00 PM
That brings back memories
by skitch
May 28th, 2007
09:49:14 PM
Reily on "The Best Of Carson..."
by Uncapie
May 28th, 2007
09:51:01 PM
Gave me one of the biggest laughs ever.....
by Kenny8
May 28th, 2007
10:03:00 PM
CNR -- a superb comic's comic!
by Boris Baddenov
May 28th, 2007
10:07:31 PM
He survived the Hartford Circus Fire
by uglyMood
May 28th, 2007
10:52:01 PM
The actual Hartford Circus Fire URL
by uglyMood
May 28th, 2007
10:55:15 PM
Hell, I give up.
by uglyMood
May 28th, 2007
10:56:38 PM
I remember the Cannon Ball run days.
by GQtaste
May 28th, 2007
11:19:47 PM
Did you hear that Tom Poston died?
by Napoleon Park
May 28th, 2007
11:46:03 PM
The Simpsons comic book paid homage
by Napoleon Park
May 28th, 2007
11:51:31 PM
I remember him from game shows but I actually only saw
by Yeti
May 29th, 2007
12:01:15 AM
Off to the Great Gay Bar in the Sky
by DildoBaggins
May 29th, 2007
12:05:16 AM
Napolean!
by BadMrWonka
May 29th, 2007
12:28:18 AM
Another one of those you will never see again.
by GQtaste
May 29th, 2007
01:24:00 AM
Another one of those you will never see again.
by GQtaste
May 29th, 2007
01:24:13 AM
Another one of those you will never see again.
by GQtaste
May 29th, 2007
01:31:35 AM
My Bad, Mr. Wonka, and apologies, Mori.
by Napoleon Park
May 29th, 2007
02:28:46 AM
He was a fairly prominent musical comedy star.
by AnnoyYou
May 29th, 2007
02:29:07 AM
His Jose Chung appearance was good, but...
by Sledge Hammer
May 29th, 2007
02:48:44 AM
I meant his *X-Files* Jose Chung appearance was good...
by Sledge Hammer
May 29th, 2007
02:51:17 AM
Napolean...um
by BadMrWonka
May 29th, 2007
03:18:50 AM
RIP Charles Nelson Reilly
by Crimson King
May 29th, 2007
05:16:23 AM
Hoo Doo was a Villain Supreme!
by Borgnine JR
May 29th, 2007
07:57:21 AM
Charles Nelson Reilly made me want to be a gay man
by Garbageman33
May 29th, 2007
08:37:54 AM
Cannonball Run II
by mrsinister7381
May 29th, 2007
08:58:20 AM
Wait a minute, he was GAY?!
by mrsinister7381
May 29th, 2007
09:00:56 AM
the Dirty Bubble has popped !!!
by Douche Baggins
May 29th, 2007
09:20:47 AM
RIP CNR
by veritasses
May 29th, 2007
09:45:49 AM
Great Television!
by FleshMachine
May 29th, 2007
10:13:19 AM
Wow
by DarkLordFett
May 29th, 2007
11:55:48 AM
Jose Chung! The Anti-Kilgore Trout
by Star Trek Apologist
May 29th, 2007
01:13:10 PM
So long pal
by Kentucky Colonel
May 29th, 2007
01:47:07 PM
Gene Rayburn & Gene Roddenbury...
by Kentucky Colonel
May 29th, 2007
01:54:21 PM
Gene Rayburn & Gene Roddenbury...
by Kentucky Colonel
May 29th, 2007
01:54:53 PM
Concur with ST Apologist..
by jwebby
May 29th, 2007
05:12:52 PM
"LOVE the moustache"
by GwynsHeadinaBox
May 29th, 2007
06:07:45 PM
I'm honestly saddened
by Poisonouskid
May 29th, 2007
06:58:04 PM
"Oh, the PAIN...
by Deandome
May 30th, 2007
01:55:02 AM
I wish I had as much fun with my life as he..
by Borgnine JR
May 30th, 2007
03:24:32 PM

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