Trivia

So convincing was his southern poet character that Gibson once received a letter from the Governor of Alabama claiming he was "...one of the most exciting talents to come out of Alabama since Tallulah Bankhead".

Attended the Catholic University of America with actor Jon Voight during the 1950s. Along with Voight, he developed a comedy routine and came up with the stage name Henry Gibson. Voight used the name Harold Gibson and together they played two southern hillbillies. After this, Voight took up more serious acting whilst Henry Gibson carried on with his comedy routine, eventually landing his famous role on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), playing a southern poet.

Henry Gibson is actually a stage name - he was born James Bateman. He named himself after Norwegian poet Henrik Ibsen because "...if you say his name with a Southern accent, it sounds like Henry Gibson".

Had three sons: Jon Gibson, a business affairs executive at Universal Pictures; Charles Gibson, a director and two-time Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor; and James Gibson, a screenwriter.

The only male cast member of Nashville (1975) to receive a Golden Globe Award nomination for acting.

Before appearing on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), he developed a nightclub act to perform his poems. It was during this time that he developed the character of a southern poet.

He has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Nutty Professor (1963), The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975) and The Blues Brothers (1980).

Attended Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C.

Following his death, he was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Henry Gibson passed away on September 14, 2009, only one week from what would have been his 74th birthday on September 21.

On the Wonder Woman (1975) season one commentary, executive producer Douglas S. Cramer called him a 1960s and 1970s comic genius.

Had appeared in episodes of four different series which featured witches: Bewitched (1964), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Charmed (1998) and Boston Legal (2004).

His father was of Irish ancestry. His mother had English, German, Irish, and distant Dutch, ancestry.

He was a first cousin of metal sculptor and powerlifter Hugh Cassidy, and a first cousin, once removed, of vocalist Eva Cassidy, who was Hugh's daughter. Henry's great-grandfather, Lewis C. Cassidy, was a lawyer and politician who was Attorney General of Pennsylvania, from 1883 to 1887.

One of his most famous routines on the iconic 60's variety show "Laugh In" went as follows: "The Robin by Henry Gibson: The North wind doth blow, the air's full of snow, and what does the robin do then, poor thing? Freeze probably.".

Had two grandchildren.

His wife, Lois Henry Geiger, died in May of 2007 at the age of 77.