Most Populer Actor Henry Gibson dies at 73

LOS ANGELES–Henry Gibson, the veteran comic character actor

best known for his role reciting offbeat poetry on "Rowan

& Martin's Laugh-In," has died. He was 73.

Gibson's son, James, said Gibson died Monday at his home in

Malibu after a brief battle with cancer.

After serving in the Air Force and studying at the Royal

Academy of Dramatic Arts, Gibson — born James Bateman in

Germantown, Pa., in 1935 — created his Henry Gibson comic

persona, a pun on playwright Henrik Ibsen's name,

while working as a theater actor in New York.

For three seasons on "Laugh-In," he delivered satirical

poems while gripping a giant flower.

After "Laugh-In," Gibson went on to appear in several films,

including "The Long Goodbye" and "Nashville,

" which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. His most memorable

roles included playing the menacing neighbor opposite Tom Hanks in

"The 'Burbs," the befuddled priest in "Wedding Crashers"

and voicing Wilbur the Pig in the animated

His recent work included playing cantankerous Judge

Clarence Brown on ABC's "Boston Legal" for five seasons and

providing the voice of sardonic, eye-patched reporter Bob Jenkins

on Fox's "King of the Hill." In 2001, Gibson returned to the stage

in New York in the Encores! New York City Center production of Rogers

and Hart's "A Connecticut Yankee."