Lynne Thigpen

She was born Cherlynne Richmond in Joliet, Illinois, and 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 where she began a prolific theater career, appearing initially in musicals such as Godspell, The Night that Made America Famous, The Magic Show, Working, and Tintypes. Her first film was Godspell[?] in 1973. Her later work emphasized her acting over her singing abilities.

She died, unexpectedly, in Los Angeles, California. She was 54. The cause of death has not been officially announced. The coroner's autopsy[?] results are (as of May 11, 2003) still pending; although several sources (including the IMDb and the Buffalo News[?] TV Mailbag [1] (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030504/1015958.asp)) have speculated that the death might have resulted from a heart attack.

Credits

Stage

• 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
• Jar the Floor
• Athol Fugard[?]'s Boesman and Lena: Obie award, 1992
• A Month of Sundays
• Wendy Wasserstein[?]'s An American Daughter:1996-7 (Tony Award 1997)

Radio

• The Garrison Keillor Show

Screen

• Warriors: 1979
• The Insider
• Shaft
• Random Hearts
• Tootsie: 1982
• Lean on Me: 1989
• Godspell: 1991
• Bob Roberts: 1992
• Article 99: 1992
• Bicentennial Man: 1999
• Anger Management: 2003

Television

• 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 secretary, Ella Farmer)
• All My Children: as nurse Grace Keefer
• thirtysomething
• L.A. Law
• Law and Order

Voice

• The Bear in the Big Blue House as Luna