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.

Thigpen may be best known for her role in the children’s geography TV show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?. In the series, she played the role of "The Chief" of the ACME Detective Agency, a role that involved both education and comedy, and, on occasion, musical performance. Frequently seen on television dramas, her last film role was Anger Management, released April 11, 2003.

Death

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, non-traumatic systemic and spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage and hemorrhage in the brain" as well as an enlarged heart.

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 was said to have jumped the shark, and was cancelled following 2003-2004 season. The series survives in reruns on the USA Network.

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

Friends have established a non-profit foundation 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 & Order (occasional as Judge Ida Boucher)

Software

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? v.3.0 as The Chief
Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? v.3.0 as The Chief
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? v.3.0 as The Chief

Voice

All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, by Maya Angelou
Bear in the Big Blue House as Luna
The Bluest Eyes, by Toni Morrison
House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
Jazz, by Toni Morrison
One Better, by Rosalyn McMillan
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 (nominations)

Los Angeles Drama Critics award

1987 for August Wilson's "Fences,"

Obie Award

1992 for Athol Fugard's "Boesman and Lena"
2000 for "Jar the Floor"

Tony Award

1997 "Best Supporting Actress" for "An American Daughter"

NAACP Image Awards

1997 Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for All My Children
1996 Outstanding Performance in an Educational/Informational Youth or Children's Series/Special for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

AudioFile Awards

Golden Voices for the year 2000

Daytime Emmy Awards

2004 Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for Bear in the Big Blue House
This nomination was posthumous

External links