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Lynne Thigpen
Birth name	Cherlynne Theresa Thigpen
Born	December 22, 1948(1948-12-22) Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 12, 2003 (aged 54) Marina del Rey, California
Years active	1973 – 2003
Awards Tony Awards Best Supporting Actress 1997 An American Daughter

Lynne Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was a Tony Award-winning, Image Award-nominated American stage and television actress.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Theatre 2.2 Films 2.3 Television 2.4 Radio 3 Death 3.1 Posthumous efforts 4 Credits 4.1 Stage 4.2 Radio 4.3 Film 4.4 Television 4.5 Software 4.6 Voice 5 Awards (nominations) 6 References 7 External links

Born as Cherlynne Theresa Thigpen in Joliet, Illinois, Thigpen 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.

Thigpen had a long and prolific theater career, appearing initially in musicals such as Godspell, The Night that Made America Famous, The Magic Show, Working, and Tintypes. Her crowning theater achievement was her appearance in the Wendy Wasserstein play "An American Daughter". She won a Tony Award in 1997 for her portrayal of "Dr. Judith Kaufman".

Her first feature film role was Godspell (1973) starring opposite Victor Garber and David Haskell. She has appeared in few films throughout her career; her last film was Anger Management (2003) starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson.

Thigpen is perhaps best known for her role in the long-running PBS children's geography game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, where she played "The Chief" of the ACME Detective Agency which involves both education and comedy, and, on occasion, musical performance. She was also the only World cast member to star in Time. She also appeared on another children's show, Bear in the Big Blue House, voicing character of Luna, the moon.

She has starred in many prime-time series during her career, including her recurring role as "Grace Keefer" in a storyline on the daytime drama All My Children and the major contract part as "Ella Farmer", a statistics clerk for the Washington, D.C. police department, on The District. She also guest starred in episodes of Gimme A Break!, L.A. Law, Law & Order, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and Thirtysomething.

She appeared in radio skits of the Garrison Keillor program A Prairie Home Companion. Her dusky voice was also heard on over 20 books on tape. The books were often works with socially relevant themes. ^[1]

On March 12, 2003, Thigpen was found dead at her home in Marina del Rey, California, by a friend; she had died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 54. She had been complaining of headaches for several days. She had not been seriously ill, and her death was a surprise and shock. 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".

When Thigpen died, The District had a funeral for her character in the third season finale as well. Her untimely death also led to the four-year hiatus of Bear in the Big Blue House.

A planned film version was also put on hold. According to journalist Tara Mooney (Shadow), who was interviewed by Ray D'Arcy on Ireland's Today FM in 2005, says "the crew's hearts just weren't in it anymore" two years after Thigpen's death. Friends have established a non-profit foundation, ^[2] The Lynne Thigpen - Bobo Lewis Foundation, to help young actresses and actors learn how to survive and succeed in New York theater, to mentor the next generation of Broadway stars.

Her last film Anger Management (2003) starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson was dedicated in her memory.

An elementary school in her hometown is named in her memory.^[3]

• 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

• The Garrison Keillor Show

• Godspell (1973)
• The Warriors (1979) (She appears as the radio announcer, only her lips are seen.)
• Tootsie (1982)
• Streets of Fire (1983) (She appears as a subway train engineer, reading in her train; brief dialogue with the main character.)
• Lean on Me (1989)
• Article 99 (1992)
• Bob Roberts (1992)
• The Paper (1994)
• Blankman (1994)
• Random Hearts (1999)
• The Insider (1999)
• Bicentennial Man (1999)
• Shaft (2000)
• Novocaine (2001)
• Anger Management (2003) – Posthumously Released

• 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, aunt of Noah (played by Keith Hamilton Cobb)
• thirtysomething
• L.A. Law
• Law & Order (occasional as Judge Ida Boucher)
• Bear in the big blue house (Luna)
• Frank's Place (as the "good" voodoo woman who helps Frank evict a "bad" voodoo female tenant, played by Rosalind Cash)
• Roseanne (TV series) one time as a doctor

• 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

• America's War on Poverty, PBS
• All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, by Maya Angelou
• Bear in the Big Blue House as Luna
• The Bluest Eye, 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

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" (won)

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

• Lynne Thigpen at the Internet Movie Database
• Lynne Thigpen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Grave site of Lynne Thigpen
• The Lynne Thigpen - Bobo Lewis Foundation
• Lynne Thigpen at Harpo's Juke Joint Wiki
• Lynne Thigpen