FILE – Charles Kimbrough, right, poses with Candice Bergen, a cast member of the television series ‘Murphy Brown,’ as they are reunited February 27, 2008 for a segment of NBC’s ‘Today’ in New York. Kimbrough, a Tony and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-forward news anchor opposite Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died on January 11, 2023 in Culver City, California. He was 86 years old. The New York Times first reported him on Death Sunday, February 5. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)
LOS ANGELES – Charles Kimbrough, a Tony and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-forward news anchor opposite Candice Bergen in “Murphy Brown,” died January 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
Kimbrough played journalist Jim Dial on the 10-season hit CBS sitcom Murphy Brown from 1988 to 1998, and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1990. He reprized the role for three episodes in the 2018 reboot.
The New York Times first reported his death, and his son confirmed it to The Associated Press on Sunday.
Kimbrough’s wife, Actor Beth Howland who played diner server Vera in the 1970s and 80s, the CBS sitcom “Alice” died in 2016. They married in 2002, more than a decade after his 1991 divorce from his first wife. Mary Jane (Wilson) Kimbrough, who died in 2007.
The Times reports that Kimbrough is survived by a sister, Linda Kimbrough, a son, John Kimbrough, and a stepdaughter, Holly Howland.
Born on May 23, 1936, Kimbrough spent years in the New York theater scene. In 1971 he was nominated for a Tony for his Broadway performance in Steven Sondheim’s musical Company.
Kimbrough also lent his voice to a gargoyle named Victor in Disney’s animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
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