When I first heard yesterday that Henry Gibson had died of cancer, I felt like I was alone in my mourning. But a day later, the film blogs have paid him due respect. And it being a slow news day, I’m devoting today’s Bloggery to this great character actor, despite the morbidity of having more than one obit/tribute roundup in one week.

I’m quite happy to see that many people appreciated the actor’s talent, though it makes me sad that he wasn’t given more and better work in his later years. Sure, he was still prolific in his TV and film appearances, but isn’t it a shame his role in Wedding Crashers is his most memorable of the past decade?

I remember the first time I saw and heard him in one of my now-favorite films Nashville. I couldn’t believe it was the same guy I primarily knew from Laugh-In and Joe Dante films. Maybe it was because I thought he resembled Teller of Penn & Teller, and so in spite of the villainous turns, I typically saw him as a sweet, cute, relatively silent and somewhat dopey-looking character actor. Also, his parts were usually pretty small.

In Nashville, though, he’s a central figure, one who feels far more real than any characters I’d seen him play before. Not that there’s anything wrong with his sillier roles. Check out this villain from an episode of Wonder Woman for why I truly love him. But the guy obviously had range, and I wish we could have seen more from him.

Check out some more memories of Gibson from other film blogs after the jump:

• Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch celebrates his work in Altman’s The Long Goodbye:
  

  The movie is stuffed with terrific performances from the likes of Mark Rydell, Sterling Hayden, and, of course, Elliott Gould as laconic, private eye-out-of-time Philip Marlowe. Gibson more than holds his own as the reptilian doc who may or may not be holding Hayden’s alcoholic writer against his will at his sanatorium. If you have seen The Long Goodbye, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. And if you haven’t? Then you are in for a treat.

• Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule has a lot to say about his performance in Nashville:
  

  Gibson’s finest hour of many fine hours as an actor and a writer, however, came two years later, as the country music icon Haven Hamilton at the center of Altman’s whirling spectacle of curdled bicentennial Americana, Nashville. Hamilton bore a strong physical resemblance to Hank Snow, but the character’s inspiration was more likely drawn from multiple sources, including Gibson’s imagination. Gibson gives us the face of music industry megalomania and patriarchal entitlement right off the bat underneath the film’s opening credits, singing his own satirical composition “200 Years” (a tune just perfect enough to have been adopted by some as a straightforward patriotic celebration, sans irony). Throughout the film we’re given to see just how he looks upon Nashville as his own to oversee, the little man whose pompous personality insists upon seeing the whole of the country music scene as a surrogate family (to the detriment of his own, of course).

• Glenn Kenny at Some Came Running believes Altman appreciated his talent best:
  

  Robert Altman really knew the depths of this character actor. When you think about it, he almost is the kind of de facto lead of Nashville; his venal paterfamilias Haven Hamilton is, along with the unseen Hal Phillip Walker, the force that binds the film’s world…The man was a welcome presence wherever he turned up, but it seems most of the filmmakers he worked with after Altman didn’t understand quite what a treasure he was. Joe Dante, Paul Thomas Anderson, Keith Gordon and maybe sorta John Landis being notable exceptions.

• Josh Tyler at Cinema Blend recommends you see him in The ‘burbs:
  

  In my little world, I’ll always remember him best the murderous Dr. Werner Klopek from Joe Dante’s underrated 1989 horror-comedy The burbs’. In it, Gibson leads a gang of murderous killers who move in next door to Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher, smack dab in the middle of suburban paradise. If you haven’t seen it, but you’ve seen Disturbia, it’s pretty much the same except better and with a whole lot of funny. Gibson in particular is fantastic, putting his unthreatening stature to use as a creepy neighbor who may or may not be chopping up bodies in his basement with his creepy clan.

• Adam Rosenberg at MTV Movies Blog also remembers him best from The ‘burbs:
  

  I’ll never forget the first time I saw him, in “The ‘Burbs,” when he seemed like this nice old neighbor being harassed by crazy Tom Hanks. Only then you find out that he actually is a psychotic killer, chopping up corpses and incinerating them in his basement.

  Perhaps not the most heartfelt remembrance, but that’s how Gibson left his mark in my life. He was a “that guy” for the ages, a great character actor. He will be missed.

• Vince Mancini at FilmDrunk concentrates his appreciation on his Nazi character in The Blues Brothers. Also, he informs us that we needn’t be sad for the loss:
  

  I know we’re all mourning right now, but take solace in the fact that Gibson’s memory will live on forever in my heart, which I eventually plan on transplanting into an indestructible sexbot, whose exploits will be the envy of the entire galaxy for all eternity.  In the name of the father, the son, and the holy sexbot, amen.

• Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema mainly has memories of the bad guy roles:
  

  I’ll best remember Henry Gibson (born James Bateman) for his more sinister turns in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye and Nashville, John Landis’ The Blues Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. With the exception of Nashville, he might not be the first thing you think of when you think of those movies, but none of them would be the same without him.

• Scott Weinberg at Cinematical appreciates the actor’s lack of fame and stardom:
  

  Actors like Henry Gibson generally show up 7th or 8th in the opening credits, if they show there up at all, but they excel at two things: Providing flawless support for a lead actor or a big star, and giving movie-watchers a nice comfortable vibe of “Ohhh, this guy! He’s been in a dozen flicks I’ve seen before. No idea who he is, but I’m glad to see him again.”

• Bob Westal at Premium Hollywood also celebrates him for his scene stealing:
  

  Gibson — whose stage name derives from an early character he did with roommate Jon Voight — was a personal favorite of mine. Not a large man, he was the kind of actor who might have one or two scenes in a movie, but was pretty much guaranteed to bring something detailed and memorable to his usually hilarious scenes; a relatively recent case in point was his great turn as the befuddled shocked clergyman towards the end of “Wedding Crashers.”

• Zayne at More a Legend Than a Blog puts him in the same boat as other great character actors:
  

  As an adult, my appreciation for Gibson’s genius as a character has only grown to the point where I place him firmly alongside William Demarest, Claude Rains, Charles Coburn, and Christopher Walken as That Great Twinkly Presence. He was an impossibly smooth performer who effortlessly suggested layer upon layer of subtext with a bit of impish physical business here and a wryly inscrutable line reading there that did nothing but enrich whatever he appeared in. He was unbelievably good at his job and he will be missed.

• Quint at Ain’t It Cool News praises Gibson for his range:
  

  I’m going to miss Gibson’s ability to straddle the thin line between funny and creepy. The man’s talent was his ability to shift into any kind of character. His Haven Hamilton in NASHVILLE is miles from his Dr. Klopek character which is a different sort of villain than his comical Illinois Nazi. He could do over-the-top and straight man humor, which isn’t as common as one might think. He could also handle drama with equal ease.