The amazing Lynne Thigpen has passed away. From AP:
LOS ANGELES — Lynne Thigpen, a Tony Award-winning actress for “An
American Daughter” and co-star of the CBS drama “The District,” has
died, the network said Thursday. She was 54.
Thigpen died suddenly Wednesday night in her Los Angeles home. She had
been in good health and the cause of death was not immediately known,
network spokeswoman Beth Haiken said.
Production was shut down Thursday on “The District,” which stars Craig
T. Nelson as Washington D.C. police chief Jack Mannion. Thigpen played
Mannion’s secretary, Ella Farmer.
“I’m in shock. She was a wonderful actress and a friend,” Nelson said
in a statement.
“We are all in shock and in mourning,” said John Wirth, the drama’s
executive producer. “The beauty, compassion and talent that you saw on
the screen was not just superb acting, it was the very essence of this
wonderful woman. We will miss her terribly.”
The 20th episode was in production this week, Haiken said. A total of
22 was planned for the season.
“Producers, cast and crew are in mourning and no decision has been made
yet about how this will affect the show, because our first concern is
Lynne’s family,” she said.
Thigpen, who was born and raised in Joliet, Ill., and later made her
home in New York, had a distinguished stage career and also worked
steadily in films and television.
In 1997, she received the Tony Award for best supporting actress for
her role as a black Jewish feminist in Wendy Wasserstein’s play “An
American Daughter.”
Thigpen re-created the role in the 2000 TV movie version of the play.
She was nominated for a Tony for her role in “Tintypes,” and won Obie
Awards for “Jar the Floor” and “Boesman and Lena” and an L.A. Drama
Critics Award for her work in a Los Angeles production of August
Wilson’s “Fences.”
On TV, she portrayed the chief in the PBS series “Where in the World Is
Carmen Sandiego?” and “Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?” She appeared
in the series “thirtysomething” and “L.A. Law” and the Hallmark Hall of
Fame presentations of “Night Ride Home” and “The Boys Next Door.”
Her film credits included “The Insider,” “Shaft,” “Random Hearts,”
“Lean on Me,” “Bob Roberts” and “Tootsie” and the current “Anger
Management.”
Details on survivors and funeral services were not immediately
available.
Lynne was a wonderful woman. I met her a few years back through her
longtime gentleman friend Larry (husband in all but paperwork and
government sanction) and she was a true delight. Intelligent, fast on
the draw, and everything you could ever want in a dinner companion,
filled with stories of her own, yet eager to hear about yours.
A few years back, I was at a party she threw at her home in New York,
with Peter Riegert, Denny Dillon, and Wendy Wasserstein to celebrate
both Christmas and her birthday. It is hard to imagine a more gracious
hostess. (It also remains the only time I’ve spontaneously heard “Happy
Birthday” sung spontaneously in four part harmony.) There was also the
time I was at a party with Simon Jones (who she worked with on The News Is The News and remained good friends with) and Douglas Adams (who worked with Simon on The HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy)
and she was laughing as hard as anybody there. I’d invited Larry, she
brought Lynne, Douglas brought Simon, and surprise! “What are you doing
here?” etc.
She was incredibly well-read. Never mind the audiobooks she performed–
Toni Morrison’s Jazz
was her first audiobook, but she also did Maya Angelou, Mildred Taylor,
Virginia Hamilton, Ernest J. Gaines, and Zora Neale Hurston– she also
read science fiction a lot, I remember talking to her about the new
Asimov book she’d read and I hadn’t. And yes, she even showed up in a Star Trek
audiobook.
The word that gets bandied about a lot for her is “dignity”. That both
overstates and understates the case. She had a sense of humor and
playfulness that touched everything she did, and it is a testament to
her skill as an actress that you wouldn’t see it onstage unless the
role called for it. The word that I would use is “richness”– richness
in voice, talent, humor, wisdom, spirit, and soul.
My deepest symapthies to Larry. She will be missed.
UPDATE: Larry posted this elsewhere, and I hope he doesn’t mind me
reposting it here:
Dearest Friends,
Thank you for all your good thoughts and wishes, condolences and
prayers.
Lynne Thigpen was an incredible talent as an actress, a shining light
of dignity and graciousness as a person and the love of my life for 32
wonderfully happy and exciting years. We will miss her so very, very
much.
As you