Actors - Lynne Thigpen

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Lynne Thigpen

	Actors - Lynne Thigpen

Lynne Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American actress.

She was born Cherlynne Theresa Thigpen in Joliet, Illinois, and obtained a degree in teaching. She taught high school English briefly in Joliet, while studying theatre and dance at the University of Illinois, then, in 1971, moved to New York City where she began a prolific theater career, appearing initially in musicals such as Godspell, The Night that Made America Famous, The Magic Show, Working, and Tintypes. Her first film was Godspell
in 1973.

While her later work emphasized acting over singing, her intriguing dusky voice made its way to over 20 socially-relevant books on tape.

She was found unconscious at her home in Marina del Rey, California, by a friend, and died of cerebral hemorrhage. She had been complaining of headaches for several days. She was 54. Drugs and foul play were ruled out by the coroner's autopsy, which found "acute cardiac dysfunction, nontraumatic systemic and spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage and hemorrhage in the brain" as well as an enlarged heart.

Ms. Thigpen may be best known for her role in the children’s geography TV show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" Her last film role was Anger Management
, released April 11, 2003.

At the time of her death, she was appearing in the CBS television series "The District" with Craig T. Nelson, in which she played feisty Ella Farmer. Farmer claimed to be not a survivor but an overcomer, succeeding in getting promoted several steps from a lowly clerical job to a powerful administrator, adopting an orphaned nephew, and beating recurrent bouts of cancer. When Thigpen died, the show had a funeral for Farmer as well, but the show itself failed to overcome the loss, and was cancelled at the end of the 2003-2004 season.

According to Tara Moorey ('Shadow') interviewed by Ray D'Arcy on Ireland's Today FM in 2005, her untimely death also led to the termination of Bear in the Big Blue House - a film of which had been planned. After Thigpen's death, she said, "their hearts just weren't in it anymore".

Friends have established a in her name to help young actresses and actors learn how to survive and succeed in New York Theater - to mentor the next generation of Broadway Stars.

An elementary school in Joliet, Illinois is named for her.

Credits

Stage

Godspell: 1973
The Night That Made America Famous: 1975
The Magic Show: 1976
Working
But Never Jam Today
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

The Garrison Keillor Show

Screen

Godspell
(1973)
The Warriors
(1979) (She appears as the radio announcer, only her lips are seen.)
Tootsie
(1982)
Lean on Me
(1989)
Article 99 (1992)
Bob Roberts
(1992)
Blankman
(1994)
Random Hearts
(1999)
The Insider (1999)
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Shaft (2000)
Novocaine (2001)
Anger Management
(2003)

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
thirtysomething
L.A. Law
Law and Order (occasional as Judge Ida Boucher)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lynne Thigpen ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Lynne Thigpen; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay