CHARLES NELSON REILLY, American actor was born on this date (d. 2007); An American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children’s television, animated cartoons and as a panelist on the game show Match Game. Reilly did not publicly proclaim his sexuality until his one-man show Save It for the Stage.

However, much like fellow game-show regular Paul Lynde of the same era, Reilly played up a campy on-screen persona. In many episodes of Match Game, he would lampoon himself by briefly affecting a deep voice and self-consciously describing how “butch” he was. He mentioned in a 2002 interview with Entertainment Tonight that he felt no need to note this and that he never purposefully hid his sexuality from anyone.

It is somewhat ironic, then, that a man known for for his upbeat temperament could never shake the memory of a single traumatic event he experienced during his childhood upbringing in Connecticut. Born in the Bronx in 1931, Reilly moved with his family to Hartford as a young boy and grew up there, eventually attending the prestigious Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford after discovering his love for music and the theater.

When he was 13, he and a friend attended the ill-fated Ringling Bros circus of July 6, 1944, which turned into one of the worst human disasters in Connecticut history after the big top tent caught fire and turned into a hellish death trap. Reilly and his friend, who were in attendance at the circus that day, were able to leap off the bleachers and escape without harm, but later in life, while filming a one-man autobiographical play, Reilly described in detail the horror of seeing children wandering the scene with burned, mutilated faces. The incident so traumatized Reilly that in spite of his lifelong love of acting and the theater, he never sat in an audience again, claiming that being part of a large crowd reminded him of that terrible day in 1944. An actor famous for making people smile, but secretly haunted by a childhood tragedy in Hartford, is remembered today in Connecticut history.

Patrick Hughes III, a set decorator and dresser, was Reilly’s domestic partner; the two met backstage while Reilly was appearing on the game show Battlestars. They lived in Beverly Hills. This writer had the privilege of traveling with Reilly, who was this writer’s MFA. mentor, when he toured withThe Belle of Amherst, that he directed with Julie Harris in the role of Emily Dickenson. He was a kind and generous friend.

On May 25, 2007, Reilly died at his home from complications from pneumonia after a year-long illness.