While semi-retired and living in Beverly Hills, Charles occasionally directed opera, taught, and voiced cartoons (most recently "The Dirty Bubble" on SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)). The filmed version of his autobiographical one man play "The Life of Reilly" (The Life of Reilly (2006)) premiered at the South By Southwest film festival in March of 2006 to rave reviews. [May 2006]
3
Not only was he performing his one-man show "Save it for the Stage: The Life of Reilly", Charles was an acting coach at Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Florida, and he had directed many Broadway and off-Broadway shows. (Reilly and Reynolds had been friends for years). [April 2002]
Once worked as a night mail boy at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.
8
On stage from age 9 in a school play.
9
An only child, his father, Charles Joseph Reilly, suffered a severe nervous breakdown when Charles was young and eventually had to be institutionalized. Charles and his mother, Signe Elvera Nelson, moved the two of them to Hartford, Connecticut, to live with his mother's Swedish relatives.
10
Reilly was quite candid about the problems he had during the production of "Hello Dolly!", particularly with director Gower Champion and star Carol Channing. He did, however, have the benefit of playing opposite Eileen Brennan, who was playing the role of Irene Malloy, and later performed with her in a cabaret act.
11
Reilly's openly gay TV persona was quite ahead of its time. He recalled a network executive telling him, "They don't let queers on television." In rebuttal, he was a game show fixture on such shows as The Match Game (1962) and The Hollywood Squares (1965); was a guest on the The Tonight Show (1962) with Johnny Carson more than 95 times; earned an Emmy nomination for his second-banana work on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968) and appeared on Saturday morning children's shows such as Lidsville (1971).
12
His final work was an autobiographical one-man show, "Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly," about his family life growing up in the Bronx. The Life of Reilly (2006) was his last filmed project. He got the first part of the show's title from a patented remark his mother use to say to him when he said something clever. His longtime partner Patrice Hues was set designer for the film.
13
Was a close friend of multiple Tony-winning actress Julie Harris, and directed her in many plays and one-woman shows (over 10), including "The Belle of Amherst". He met Harris while they were performing in the short-lived musical "Skyscraper" in 1965.
14
In addition to his Tony win for "How to Succeed...", Reilly also won a New York Drama Critic's Award for the same role. Moreover, he was nominated again for a Tony for playing Cornelius Hackl in "Hello, Dolly!" opposite Carol Channing in 1964. In 1997 he received a third nomination for directing Julie Harris and Charles Durning in a revival of "The Gin Game".
At age 13, he was in the audience during the Ringling Bros. Circus tent fire in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944, which claimed the lives of 168 people. The mother of his neighbor friend had taken the two boys to the show and the three managed to escape physically unharmed. Charles was saved by an older sister also in attendance, who lowered him from the side of the bleachers because the bottleneck below made it practically impossible to get out any other way. For the rest of his life, he had a fear of sitting in a large audience despite being a theater actor and director.
17
He was born in The Bronx, New York, but was raised in New Haven, Connecticut. He was the only child of a Swedish mother and an Irish father.
18
Reilly was a long-time teacher of acting at HB Studio, the acting studio created by Herbert Berghof and his wife Uta Hagen.
19
Won Broadway's 1962 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for portraying Bud Frump in "How To Succeed In Business without Really Trying". Was also nominated in the same category in 1964 for "Hello, Dolly!". Also earned a 1997 Tony nomination as Best Director (Play) for working with longtime pal Julie Harris in the revival of "The Gin Game". Reilly previously directed Harris in her Tony-winning role as Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst (1976).
20
Earned a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role opposite Carol Channing in the original "Hello, Dolly!" in 1964.
21
Appearing in his one man show at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York. (November 2001).
22
Was Dick Van Dyke's understudy in "Bye-Bye Birdie" on Broadway, where they met.
