Sept. 21, 1935—Sept. 14, 2009

LOS ANGELES—Henry Gibson, the veteran character actor who came to fame in the late 1960s as the flower-holding poet on TV’s landmark satirical comedy show “Rowan&Martin’s Laugh-In,” has died. He was 73.

Gibson died late Monday night after a brief battle with cancer at his home in Malibu, said his son, Jon.

Gibson, who more recently played a recurring role as cantankerous Judge Clark Brown on “Boston Legal,” was part of the original ensemble cast of “Laugh-In,” which ran on NBC from 1968 to 1973.

The show, whose original cast included Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley and others, was an immediate hit.

“Henry was an integral part of ‘Laugh-In’ for a long time, and he was brilliant,” said Gary Owens, the show’s announcer.

George Schlatter, the executive producer and creator of “Laugh-In,” recalled that when Gibson auditioned for the show, “He came in and did a poem and a full back flip. He said, ‘Is that anything?’ I said, ‘Be here Monday.’ ”

In the show’s famous cocktail party scenes, when the music would stop and each cast member would deliver a funny line, Gibson was a religious figure holding a teacup and saucer.

“My congregation supports all denominations,” he said on one show, “but our favorites are twenties and fifties.”

But Gibson was best known as the poet, holding a large flower and beginning his brief recitations with his signature catchphrase, “A poem, by Henry Gibson.”

“He wrote all those himself,” said Jon Gibson. “It was a point of pride that he only read poems that he himself wrote.”

Gibson’s family said he used his fame to help support the fledgling environmental movement, including contributing op-ed pieces and poetry to newspapers and other publications.

As an actor, Gibson went on to appear in four films directed by Robert Altman, most notably “Nashville” (1975), in which he played country singer Haven Hamilton, for which he wrote most of his character’s songs and received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor.

He was born James Bateman on Sept. 21, 1935, in Germantown, Pa., and began acting professionally at age 8 as a touring performer for nine years with the Mae Desmond Theatre.