Charles Nelson Reilly, 1931 – 2007

From his LA Times obituary:

"Charles Nelson Reilly, whose persona as a wacky game show panelist and talk show guest overshadowed his serious work as a director and Tony-winning actor, has died. He was 76.

Reilly, a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, died Friday of complications from pneumonia at UCLA Medical Center, said Paul Linke, who directed Reilly's one-man show "Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly."

"The average person thinks of him as being on 'The Match Game.' That was a mixed blessing for him," Linke told The Times on Monday. "One of the reasons I was so motivated to get his show out there was because I wanted people to recognize that this was a heavyweight talent."

Sure, he had a great career on Broadway, but his TV and film career reads like a TV bibliography of our youth:

• Love Boat

• Match Game

• Cannonball Run

• And those bizarre Sid and Marty Kroft shows