Lynne Thigpen

Lynne Thigpen
Born	Cherlynne Theresa Thigpen December 22, 1948(1948-12-22) Joliet, Illinois
Died	March 12, 2003(2003-03-12) (aged 54) (&1000000000000005400000054 years, &1000000000000008000000080 days) Marina del Rey, California
Resting place	Elmhurst Cemetery, Joliet, Illinois
Other names	Lynne Richmond
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1971—2003

Cherlynne Theresa “Lynne” Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American stage and television actress, most famous as "The Chief" in the various Carmen Sandiego television series.

Early life

Thigpen was born in Joliet, Illinois, and obtained a degree in teaching. She taught English in high school briefly in while studying theatre and dance at the University of Illinois. Thigpen moved to New York City in 1971 to begin her work as a stage actress.

Career

Theatre

Thigpen had a long and prolific theater career, and appeared in numerous musicals including Godspell, The Night That Made America Famous, The Magic Show, Working, Tintypes and An American Daughter (for which she won her Tony Award for her portrayal of Dr. Judith Kaufman in 1997) .

Film

Her first feature film role was Godspell (1973) co-starring opposite Victor Garber and David Haskell. She appeared notably as the omniscient Radio DJ in The Warriors, and the mother of an expelled student in Lean on Me, a story of famous American principal Joe Louis Clark. She had a role in Shaft, alongside Samuel L. Jackson, as the murder victim's mother. She also played the Second President of the world council in Bicentennial Man (1999). Her last film was Anger Management (2003) starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson (which was released only a month following her death and paid tribute to her in the end credits).

Television

Thigpen was perhaps best known for playing "The Chief" of the ACME Detective Agency in the long-running PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, which involves both education and comedy, and, on occasion, musical performance. As well as its successor, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, she still remained the Chief, but was the Chief of ACME Time Net. She also appeared in many other television series during her career, most notably her recurring role as Grace Keefer on the ABC daytime drama All My Children and a supporting role as Ella Mae Farmer, a statistics clerk for the Washington, D.C. police department, on the CBS crime drama The District. She guest-starred in episodes of Gimme A Break!, L.A. Law, Law & Order, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Thirtysomething.

Radio

She appeared in radio skits of the Garrison Keillor program The American Radio Company of the Air. Her voice was also heard on over 20 audio books, primarily works with socially relevant themes.

Death

Thigpen died of cerebral hemorrhage on March 12, 2003 in her Marina del Rey, California home. She had been complaining of headaches for several days. Drugs and foul play were ruled out by the coroner's autopsy, which found "acute cardiac dysfunction, non-traumatic systemic and spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage and hemorrhage in the brain". Thigpen was interred at Elmhurst Cemetery in her hometown of Joliet, Illinois.

Response and legacy

When Thigpen died, the third season finale of The District centered around a funeral for her character, Ella Mae Farmer. Her death led to a four-year hiatus of Bear in the Big Blue House.^{[citation needed]} A planned film version of Bear was also put on hold. According to journalist Tara Mooney (who plays Shadow on the show), who interviewed with "Bear's" Ray D'Arcy on Ireland's Today FM in 2005, stated that "the crew's hearts just weren't in it anymore." Thigpen's family and close friends established a non-profit foundation, The Lynne Thigpen - Bobo Lewis Foundation, to help young actresses and actors learn how to survive and succeed in New York theater, to mentor the next generation of Broadway stars.

Thigpen was posthumously nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for voicing Luna the moon in Bear in the Big Blue House, but lost to Jeff Corwin. Her final film, Anger Management, starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, was dedicated to her memory.

Work

Stage

• Godspell: 1973
• The Night That Made America Famous: 1975
• The Magic Show: 1976
• Working
• But Never Jam Today 1979
• Tintypes: 1980-81
• August Wilson's Fences: 1988
• Athol Fugard's Boesman and Lena: Obie award, 1992
• A Month of Sundays
• Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter:1996-7 (Tony Award 1997)
• Jar the Floor

Radio

• A Prairie Home Companion

Film

• Godspell (1973)
• The Warriors (1979) (She appears as the radio announcer, only her lips are seen.)
• Tootsie (1982)
• Streets of Fire (1984) (She appears as a subway train engineer, reading in her train; brief dialogue with the main character.)
• Sweet Liberty (1986)
• Lean on Me (1989)
• Article 99 (1992)
• Bob Roberts (1992)
• The Paper (1994)
• Blankman (1994)
• Random Hearts (1999)
• The Insider (1999)
• Bicentennial Man (1999)
• Shaft (2000)
• Novocaine (2001)
• Anger Management (2003) – Posthumously Released

Television

• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
• Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
• The District as Chief Jack Mannion's Director of Administration, Ella Farmer
• All My Children as nurse Grace Keefer, aunt of Noah (played by Keith Hamilton Cobb)
• thirtysomething
• L.A. Law
• Law & Order as Judge Ida Boucher
• Bear in the Big Blue House as Luna
• Frank's Place as the "good" voodoo woman who helps Frank evict a "bad" voodoo female tenant, played by Rosalind Cash
• King of the Hill as a judge who hears the case when Hank disputes a credit card charge over nonexistent movies he never ordered
• Roseanne as a doctor
• The Cosby Show
• Homicide: Life on the Street as Regina Wilson

Software

• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
• Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
• Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief

Voice

• America's War on Poverty, PBS
• All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, by Maya Angelou
• Reading Rainbow
• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines
• Bear in the Big Blue House, as Luna
• The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
• House of Dies Drear, by Virginia Hamilton
• Jazz, by Toni Morrison
• One Better, by Rosalyn McMillan
• Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler
• Paradise, by Toni Morrison
• People of the Century, by Time magazine editors
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor
• Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
• Sula, by Toni Morrison
• Tar Baby, by Toni Morrison
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
• The Trials of Nikki Hill, by Christopher Darden and Dick Lochte
• Zeely, by Virginia Hamilton
• The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor
• 2000X: Tales of the Next Millennia, science fiction collection

Awards and honors

Awards won

• 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – An American Daughter

Awards nominated

• 1987 Los Angeles Drama Critics Award – Fences
• 1992 Obie Award – Boesman and Lena
• 1994, 1995, 1996 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series - Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
• 1996 NAACP Image Awards for Informational Youth or Children's Series/Special – Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
• 1997 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series – All My Children
• 2000 Obie Award – Jar the Floor
• 2000 AudioFile Awards Golden Voices for the Year
• 2004 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Bear in the Big Blue House (Posthumously nominated)

Honors

• Lynne Thigpen Elementary School, Joliet, IL

External links

• Lynne Thigpen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lynne Thigpen at the Internet Movie Database
• Lynne Thigpen at the TCM Movie Database
• Lynne Thigpen Godspell Tributes Page
• Lynne Thigpen at Find a Grave