Charlie Murphy dead at 57; Chappelle’s Show alum had leukemia
The news was first reported by TMZ, who revealed that Murphy has been battling leukemia for some time. All of those close to Murphy are particularly devastated by the news, as they thought he was recovering.
While Charlie was best-known for the short-lived (but beloved) Comedy Central series and for being the brother of the brilliant Eddie Murphy, he did have a number of other small-screen credits to his name. He had roles on The Boondocks and Are We There Yet?, and recently filmed an arc for the Starz series Power as Marshal Williams. You can read more about that over at this link. (We know that Power finished production a number of weeks ago for the season.)
Murphy was one of the most underrated talents of his time, a consistently funny guy who brought a lot to every thing that he was a part of. His versatility is one of the things that we found special about him; he would do things that were unexpected, and while he easily could’ve just existed within his brother’s shadow, he never did that. He found a way to do his own thing and shine through in a way that was uniquely his.
This week continues to be a rough one for comedy, given that we’re also still mourning the loss of the legendary Don Rickles. While both deaths are devastating, what we do have is a brilliant legacy that generations to come can be a part of and take something away from it. We’re not sure either party did what they did to be an inspiration to other performers, but there is still that quality to their work.
Our thoughts go out to not just Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle, but everyone else who knew Murphy during what has to be an incredibly difficult time as well as the fans that will undoubtedly miss him. Hopefully, Comedy Central figures out a way to properly honor Charlie, even if we are so many years removed from Chappelle’s Show being on the air. (Photo: Comedy Central.)