Charles Nelson Reilly

In 2006, Reilly developed respiratory problems while touring with his one-man show. He died of pneumonia at his home on May 25, 2007. His body was cremated.

Charles Nelson Reilly was born on January 13, 1931, in the South Bronx, New York, US. His father, Charles Joseph Reilly, a Catholic of Irish origin, was a commercial artist. His mother, Signe Elvera Nelson, was a Swedish Lutheran. He was the only child of his parents and often created his own puppet shows to entertain himself.

He spent his childhood at the Bronx. After his father suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be put under institutional care, Reilly and his mother moved to Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1944, a fire broke out at the ‘Hartford Circus.’ It killed 169 people and injured more than 700. Reilly, who was 13 years old then, was in the audience at that time, but survived the fire. However, after that incident, he could never sit amid a large audience.

Since childhood, he was interested in theater, especially opera, and wished to become an opera singer someday. He attended the ‘Hartt School of Music’ at the ‘University of Hartford.’ He soon realized that he was not gifted enough to be a professional opera singer. However, his interest in opera stayed with him throughout his life. At 18, Reilly went to New York City to join ‘HB Studio,’ the acting school of Herbert Berghof and his actor wife, Uta Hagen.

Although he mostly worked on the stage initially, his first break was an un-credited role in the film ‘A Face in the Crowd’ (1957), directed by Elia Kazan. During the 1950s, he regularly performed comic roles at the ‘Starlight Theatre,’ in Kansas City, Missouri. He also worked in a number of ‘Off-Broadway’ productions.

In 1962, Reilly won the ‘Tony Award’ for ‘Featured Actor in a Musical,’ for his role in the hit ‘Broadway’ musical ‘How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.’ He received an ‘Emmy’ nomination for his performance on the TV show ‘The Ghost & Mrs. Muir’ (1968). His other ‘Tony Award’ nominations were for the 1964 ‘Broadway’ production ‘Hello, Dolly!’ and for the 1997 play ‘The Gin Game.’