Charles Kimbrough, Murphy Brown Star, Dies at 86

Charles Kimbrough, stage and screen actor best known for his role as Jim Dial in CBS' comedy series Murphy Brown has died. He was 86 years old. According to Variety, Kimbrough died on January 11th in Culver City, CA and his death was confirmed to the New York Times by his son, John Kimbrough. No cause of death was provided.

Kimbrough played anchorman Jim Dial through all ten seasons of the original run of Murphy Brown, appearing in the series alongside Candice Bergen. Kimbrough notably appeared in every one of the original run's episodes as well as appeared in several episodes of the series' 2018 reboot. He received an Emmy nomination in 1990 for his work on the series.

Outside of his work on Murphy Brown, Kimbrough was a Tony Award nominated stage actor, a nomination he earned for his performance of Harry in the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Company in 1970. He also later appeared on Sondheim's musical, Sunday in the Park With George.

In terms of his television career, Kimbrough appeared in numerous television series in addition to Murphy Brown, including Ally McBeal, Spenser: For Hire, and even Dinosaurs — where he played Dr. Ficus — and Batman Beyond. Kimbrough also did voice work in film, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame and its sequel. He additionally did voice work for video games as well, including Kingdom Hearts 3: Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue just to name a few.

No memorial plans for Kimbrough have been released at this time.