Henry Gibson, ‘Laugh-In’ Star, Dies at 73

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Henry Gibson, a cherub-faced actor who recited nonsense poems in a Southern drawl on the TV series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and who later stood out as a smarmy country star in the 1975 film “Nashville,” died on Monday at his home in Malibu, Calif. He was 73.

The cause was cancer, his son Jon said.

Mr. Gibson made his living working the margins in dozens of films and TV shows.

It was the hit “Laugh-In” that made him a star. Wearing clerical garb and sipping tea, he would calmly circulate in the show’s frenetic cocktail-party scene, deliver a one-liner and then melt into the crowd.

As a simpering poet, he would hold a single flower and announce, with deadpan formality, “A Poem, by Henry Gibson.”

The verse that followed, always written by Mr. Gibson, was ludicrous, like “The Eyelash”:

The eyelash is a friend to man.

It lives to serve the eye.

It fights the dirt and dust and grime,

And keeps the eyeball dry.

The rest of the obituary is here at the NEW YORK TIMES.

No mores  poems by Henry Gibson. ;-(  I recall those wonderful poems from the “Laugh-In” Days. I was a big “Laugh-In” fan. In fact our Senior play in High school was “Laugh-In.”   Hmm, I can’t recall who played Henry Gibson in the play but I do remember a student Laura Parr did a “mean” (in a good way) Lily Tomlin imitation

Here we go again — two celebrity icons in one week. Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary being the second. Add to that the loss of Patrick Swayze and that trifecta of so sad news is more than enough for one week. Don’t you agree?