Lynne Thigpen

Cherlynne Theresa "Lynne" Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American actress, best known for her role as "The Chief" in the various Carmen Sandiego television series from 1991-1997.

Life and career

Born in Joliet, Illinois, Thigpen obtained a degree in teaching. She taught English in high school briefly while studying theatre and dance at the University of Illinois. Thigpen moved to New York City in 1971 to begin her career as a stage actress. She had a long and prolific theater career, and appeared in numerousmusicals including Godspell, The Night That Made America Famous, The Magic Show, Working, Tintypes and An American Daughter (for which she won herTony Award for her portrayal of Dr. Judith Kaufman in 1997). Her first feature film role was Lynne in Godspell (1973), co-starring opposite Victor Garber andDavid Haskell. She appeared notably as the omniscient Radio DJ in The Warriors, and as Leonna Barrett, the mother of an expelled student in Lean on Me, a story of famous American high school principal Joe Louis Clark. She had a role in Shaft, alongside Samuel L. Jackson, as Carla Howard, the murder victim's mother. She also played the Second President of the World Congress inBicentennial Man (1999). Her last film was Anger Management (2003), starringAdam Sandler and Jack Nicholson (which was released only a month following her death and paid tribute to her in the end credits).

Thigpen was perhaps best known for playing Luna in the television show, Bear in the Big Blue House as well as "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. She remained The Chief in the successor show,Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, but of ACME Time Net. She also appeared in many other television series during her career, most notably in a 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. 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 a cerebral hemorrhage on March 12, 2003, in her Marina del Rey, California, home. Thigpen had been complaining of headaches during the final days of her life. 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." She was entombed next to her parents at Elmhurst Cemetery in her hometown of Joliet, Illinois.

Response and Legacy

When Thigpen died, the third season finale of The District had a tribute to her character, Ella Mae Farmer. Thigpen's death led to a four-year hiatus of Bear in the Big Blue House. A planned film version of Bear was also put on hold. Two years after Thigpen's death, Bear Star, Tara Mooney, who played the character Shadow, in an interview with Ray D'Arcy onToday FM stated: "The crew's hearts just weren't in it anymore". Thigpen's friends and family established a non-profit foundation, The Lynne Thigpen - Bobo Lewis Foundation, to help young actors and actresses learn how to survive and succeed in New York theater and 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, was dedicated in her memory. Also, an elementary school in her hometown was named in her honor.

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)
• Just Cause (1995)
• Random Hearts (1999)
• The Insider (1999)
• Bicentennial Man (1999)
• Shaft (2000)
• Novocaine (2001)
• Anger Management (2003) – posthumously released

Television

• Hallmark Hall of Fame The Boys Next Door as Mrs. Tracy
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
• Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
• Sesame Street as Worm Air and Space Agency (WASA) Training Officer
• 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
• The 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
• The Street, by Ann Petry

Awards and honors

Awards won

• 1992 Obie Award – Boesman and Lena
• 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – An American Daughter
• 2000 Obie Award – Jar the Floor

Awards nominated

• 1987 Los Angeles Drama Critics Award – Fences
• 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 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