# Charles Kimbrough
**Charles Kimbrough** (May 23, 1936 – January 11, 2023) was an American character actor best known for playing the strait-laced news anchor Jim Dial on the CBS sitcom *Murphy Brown*, a role he held across the show's ten seasons and reprised in its 2018 reboot. He was also a Tony-nominated Broadway performer who appeared in the original productions of two [Stephen Sondheim](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-sondheim) musicals, *Company* and *Sunday in the Park with George*, and voiced the gargoyle Victor in Disney's *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996) and its 2002 sequel.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | May 23, 1936, St. Paul, Minnesota; January 11, 2023, Culver City, California, at age 86[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a) |
| Signature TV role | Jim Dial, veteran anchor on *Murphy Brown* (1988–1998, 248 episodes), with an Emmy nomination in 1990 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series; three episodes of the 2018 reboot[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453909/) |
| Broadway breakthrough | Harry, the recovering alcoholic, in Sondheim's *Company* (1970), earning a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Musical[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) |
| Other stage honors | Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, for *Sunday in the Park with George* (1984)[4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/) |
| Voice work | Victor, the senior gargoyle, in *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996) and *The Hunchback of Notre Dame II* (2002)[4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/) |
| Training | Bachelor's degree from Indiana University (1958); master's degree in directing from the Yale School of Drama[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) |
| Marriages | Mary Jane Wilson (married 1961, divorced 1991); actress Beth Howland, from 2002 until Howland's death[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a) |
## Early life and training
Kimbrough was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the Chicago suburb of [Highland Park, Illinois](https://www.edgepedia.org/highland-park-illinois). His mother was a pianist and his father a salesman; the family connection that pulled him toward the stage was his aunt, the author Emily Kimbrough, co-writer of the best-selling memoir *Our Hearts Were Young and Gay* with Cornelia Otis Skinner. "Theater was her life," he recalled; "she made me understand that I could be part of it rather than stand on the sidelines."[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) • [4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/)
He studied speech and theater at [Indiana University](https://www.edgepedia.org/indiana-university), receiving a bachelor's degree in 1958, and completed a master's degree in directing at the [Yale School of Drama](https://www.edgepedia.org/yale-school-of-drama) three years later. Directing then struck him as "a more respectable profession than acting." After regional theater work, he appeared off-Broadway in 1961 in *All for Love*[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) • [4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/).
## Regional theater and Broadway
**Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.** From 1966, Kimbrough and his first wife, Mary Jane, were principals at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, playing classics such as *Design for Living*, *Hedda Gabler*, *The Importance of Being Earnest*, and *A Doll's House*[4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/). A Milwaukee Rep account describes him as a mainstay of the acting company from 1966 into the early 1970s[5](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/murphy-brown-charles-kimbrough-starred-155008983.html).
He moved to New York in 1969. His Broadway debut, in a John Guare play, closed quickly, but it caught the attention of director and producer [Harold Prince](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-prince), who cast him in his next project: Stephen Sondheim's *Company* (1970). As Harry, the recovering alcoholic ambivalent about his marriage, Kimbrough earned a 1971 Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and the original cast album was his recording debut[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) • [4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/). Over the next two decades he appeared widely on and off Broadway, taking character roles in Washington, New Haven, and New York, and acting in films including *The Front* (1976) and *The Seduction of Joe Tynan* (1979)[4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/charles_kimbrough).
His second major musical role came in 1984 as Jules, a rival of the painter [Georges Seurat](https://www.edgepedia.org/georges-seurat), in Sondheim's *Sunday in the Park with George*, which brought a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) • [4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/). In all, he acted in 15 Broadway productions, with later credits including a 1985 revival of *Hay Fever*, the original [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) production of A.R. Gurney's *Sylvia*, and revivals of *Candide*, in which he played Dr. Pangloss[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) • [7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Charles-Kimbrough/).
## Murphy Brown and Jim Dial
Kimbrough became a familiar face to national television audiences in 1988, when he was cast as Jim Dial, the stuffy, 25-year-veteran anchorman on the CBS sitcom *Murphy Brown*, opposite [Candice Bergen](https://www.edgepedia.org/candice-bergen)'s driven investigative journalist. He played the role across all ten seasons of the original run, from 1988 to 1998, earning a 1990 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a) • [8](https://www.thewrap.com/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dies-86-obit/).
Series creator Diane English said he wrote a full biography for the character before playing him, and praised the weight he brought: "We didn't want a Ted Baxter version of this guy. We wanted the real deal, from the Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow era. Charlie brought all that weight, in addition to amazing comic timing."[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/) • [9](https://www.tvinsider.com/1080217/charles-kimbrough-death-murphy-brown-actor/)
**Typecasting, and a way through it.** Kimbrough told *The Wall Street Journal* in 2012 that he had long been unhappy at being cast as "jackasses of one kind or another"; directors mentally put him in a three-piece suit from the time he was 30. Playing Dial changed his view of such parts: discovering that "stuffiness is not dullness," he gave the pompous anchor heart, sensitivity, and an incisive sense of right and wrong[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/). In an early episode he became the first actor to shout "That sucks!" on network television, a distinction he called a "dubious honor" in a press interview[10](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453909/bio/).
When the series was rebooted in 2018, he reprised Jim Dial for three episodes[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a).
## Film, voice, and later stage work
Kimbrough rarely acted in movies. His film credits include *The Front* (1976), *The Seduction of Joe Tynan* (1979), *Starting Over* (1979), *The Wedding Planner* (2001), and *Recess: School's Out* (2001)[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/charles_kimbrough). His best-known screen work outside *Murphy Brown* was vocal: he voiced Victor, the senior gargoyle, in Disney's animated *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996) and *The Hunchback of Notre Dame II* (2002), and performed in a duet with [Mary Wickes](https://www.edgepedia.org/mary-wickes) on the film's soundtrack[4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/) • [11](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/charles-kimbrough/72446204). He also voiced Mort Chalk in *Recess: School's Out*, and made guest appearances on shows including *Ally McBeal*, *The Nanny*, *Family Guy*, and *Kojak*[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/charles_kimbrough) • [7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Charles-Kimbrough/).
The success of *Murphy Brown*, he said, helped underwrite his comparatively less lucrative stage career. He returned to Broadway in April 2009 as the butler Flogdell in Samson Raphaelson's *Accent on Youth* with [David Hyde Pierce](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-hyde-pierce), played a suitor in a 2010 staging of *The Merchant of Venice* opposite [Al Pacino](https://www.edgepedia.org/al-pacino), and made his final Broadway appearance as an overbearing psychiatrist in the 2012 revival of *Harvey*, starring [Jim Parsons](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-parsons)[4](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/) • [12](https://www.tvline.com/news/charles-kimbrough-cause-of-death-murphy-brown-dead-obituary-1234929077/).
## Personal life and death
Kimbrough married Mary Jane Wilson, a fellow Yale Drama School graduate, on December 30, 1961; the marriage ended in divorce in 1991, and she died in 2007[10](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453909/bio/) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a). In 1990 he starred with actress [Beth Howland](https://www.edgepedia.org/beth-howland), who had played the frantic bride Amy alongside him in *Company*, in a San Diego production of Gurney's *Love Letters*; they married in 2002. Howland, best known as the diner server Vera on the sitcom *Alice*, died at the end of 2015 or in early 2016: IMDb records her death as December 31, 2015[10](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453909/bio/), while the Associated Press and [CBS News](https://www.edgepedia.org/cbs-news) reported it as 2016[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a) • [13](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-kimbrough-dies-age-86-murphy-brown-star/).
Kimbrough died on January 11, 2023, at a hospital in [Culver City, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/culver-city-california), of natural causes, at age 86. His son and his agents confirmed the death to the Associated Press on February 5, after The New York Times first reported it[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a). He is survived by a son, John Kimbrough; a sister, Linda Kimbrough; a stepdaughter, Holly Howland; and a granddaughter, Cody[1](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a).
## References
1. [Charles Kimbrough, who played anchor in 'Murphy Brown,' dies, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/c90e3f39dba60b278799aa045f53ff9a)
2. [Charles Kimbrough - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453909/)
3. [Charles Kimbrough, Emmy-nominated 'Murphy Brown' actor, dies at 86, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/06/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dead/)
4. [Charles Kimbrough, The Official Masterworks Broadway Site](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/charles-kimbrough/)
5. [Before 'Murphy Brown,' Charles Kimbrough starred at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Yahoo Entertainment](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/murphy-brown-charles-kimbrough-starred-155008983.html)
6. [Charles Kimbrough Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/charles_kimbrough)
7. [Charles Kimbrough – Broadway & Theatre Credits, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Charles-Kimbrough/)
8. [Charles Kimbrough, Jim Dial on 'Murphy Brown,' Dies at 86, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/charles-kimbrough-murphy-brown-dies-86-obit/)
9. ['Murphy Brown' Actor Charles Kimbrough Dies at 86, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/1080217/charles-kimbrough-death-murphy-brown-actor/)
10. [Charles Kimbrough – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453909/bio/)
11. [Charles Kimbrough, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/charles-kimbrough/72446204)
12. [Charles Kimbrough Cause Of Death: 'Murphy Brown' Actor Dead At 86, TVLine](https://www.tvline.com/news/charles-kimbrough-cause-of-death-murphy-brown-dead-obituary-1234929077/)
13. [Charles Kimbrough, "Murphy Brown" star, dies at age 86, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-kimbrough-dies-age-86-murphy-brown-star/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Ki to La*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license