Editing Del Close (section)

==Life and career==

===Early life===
Close was born on March 9, 1934, in [[Manhattan, Kansas]].<ref>"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J1RL-5M4 : accessed Mar 12, 2013), Del P Close, March 4, 1999.</ref> He ran away from home at the age of 17 to work in a traveling side show, but returned to attend [[Kansas State University]]. At age 19 he performed in summer stock with the [[Belfry Players]] at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.<ref>Program, "The Belfry Players, Inc.," 1962, p. 23</ref> At age 23 he became  a member of the [[Compass Players]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]].<ref name="Adler">{{cite web |last1=Adler |first1=Tony |title=Improvisational Theater |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/631.html |website=The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago |publisher=Chicago Historical Society |access-date=18 February 2022}}</ref> When most of the cast—including [[Mike Nichols]] and [[Elaine May]]—moved to [[New York City]], Close followed.  He developed a [[stand-up comedy]] act, starred as the Yogi in the Broadway musical revue ''The Nervous Set'',<ref name="NervousSet">{{cite web |title=The Nervous Set |url=http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_n/nervousset.html |website=The Guide to Musical Theatre |access-date=18 February 2022}}</ref> and performed briefly with an improv company in [[Greenwich Village]] with fellow Compass alumni Mark and Barbara Gordon. Close also worked with [[John Brent (comedian)|John Brent]] to record the classic [[Beatnik]] satire album ''[[How to Speak Hip]]'', a parody of language-learning tools that purported to teach listeners the secret language of the "hipster".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iotaillustration.posterous.com/how-to-speak-hip-mercury-records-1959|title='How to Speak Hip' – Mercury Records 1959|publisher=Iotaillustration.posterous.com|date=January 7, 2011|access-date=August 13, 2011|archive-date=April 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415181609/http://iotaillustration.posterous.com/how-to-speak-hip-mercury-records-1959|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Chicago years===
In 1960 Close moved to [[Chicago]], his home base for much of the rest of his life, to perform and direct at [[Second City Chicago|Second City]], but was fired due to substance abuse.  He spent the latter half of the 1960s in [[San Francisco]] where he was the house director of improv ensemble [[The Committee (improv group)|The Committee]], featuring performers such as [[Gary Goodrow]], [[Carl Gottlieb]], [[Peter Bonerz]], [[Howard Hesseman]] and [[Larry Hankin]]. He toured with the [[Merry Pranksters]], and he created light images for [[Grateful Dead]] shows. 

In 1972, he returned to Chicago and to Second City. He also directed and performed for Second City's troupe in Toronto in 1977. Over the next decade he coached many popular comedians. In the early 1980s he served as "house metaphysician" at ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''; for many years, a significant percentage of the show's cast were Close protégés. He spent the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990s teaching improv, collaborating with [[Charna Halpern]] at Yes And Productions and the [[ImprovOlympic]] Theater with Compass Players producer, [[David Shepherd (producer)|David Shepherd]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/as-del-lay-dying/Content?oid=1109931|title=As Del Lay Dying|date=April 3, 2008|access-date=March 4, 2012}}</ref>

In 1987, Close mounted his first scripted show, ''Honor Finnegan vs. the Brain of the Galaxy'', created by members of Close and Halpern's Improv Olympics from a scenario by Close, at CrossCurrents in Chicago.<ref name=RKogan/> Running concurrently at the same theater was ''[[The TV Dinner Hour]]'', written by [[Richard O'Donnell (playwright)|Richard O'Donnell]] of [[New Age Vaudeville]], featuring Close's running routine as The Rev. Thing of the First Generic Church of What's-his-name.<ref name=RKogan>{{cite news|last=Kogan|first=Rick|title=Comedy Uneven in Del Close's New Show and The TV Dinner Hour - double review|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-03-20-8701220060-story.html|access-date=June 16, 2012|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=March 20, 1987}}</ref>

During this period, Close also appeared in several movies; he portrayed corrupt alderman John O'Shay in ''[[The Untouchables (film)|The Untouchables]]''<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuZDmY8al98C&q=John+O%27Shay+chicago&pg=PT303 |title = The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of del Close|isbn = 9781569764367|last1 = Johnson|first1 = Kim "Howard"|date = April 2008| publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref> and an English teacher in ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]]''. He co-authored the graphic horror anthology ''[[Wasteland (DC Comics)|Wasteland]]'' for [[DC Comics]] with [[John Ostrander]],<ref>{{cite journal|last = Fryer|first = Kim|title = DC News|journal = [[The Comics Journal]]|issue = 116|page = 28|publisher = [[Fantagraphics Books]]|date = July 1987}}</ref> and co-wrote several installments of the "Munden's Bar" backup feature for Ostrander's ''[[Grimjack]]''. Close performed in the 1993 world premiere of Steve Martin's ''[[Picasso at the Lapin Agile]]'' at Chicago's [[Steppenwolf Theatre Company]].{{cn|date=October 2022}}

===Personal life===
An obituary published in the ''Manhattan Mercury'' said that Close’s father died in Manhattan, Kansas, on December 16, 1954, after being found unconscious in his jewelry store and that the cause of death was “self-inflicted.”<ref name=":0" /> Close would have been 20 years old and, according to [[Kim "Howard" Johnson]], a biographer in the documentary ''For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close'', said that Close was in New York at the time, over a thousand miles away from where his father died.<ref>Ross, H. (Director). (2020). ''For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close'' [Documentary]. 1:19:59 - 1:20:19 [H:M:S].</ref>{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Close had told many varied and dramatic accounts of his father’s suicide, with the general story being that his father did it right in front of him when he was a child (accounts vary in age between 6–17 years old) by drinking a caustic liquid (various accounts on which type of caustic liquid).<ref name=":0" />

Regardless of when or how the suicide of Close’s father occurred, many of his friends believed it had a profound effect on him. Close would frequently bring it up in conversation with friends and even on stage. In the 2020 documentary ''For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close'', he is filmed on stage saying to the improv actors and audience, “My father was a spectacular suicide. He drank a quart of sulphuric acid, slashed his wrists. And they kept him alive for two days longer than Jesus hung on the cross, and I used to use that death to get sympathy and to get laid with.”<ref name=":1">Ross, H. (Director). (2020). ''For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close'' [Documentary]. 0:47:46 - 0:49:07 [H:M:S]</ref>{{cn|date=November 2022}} Then Close wanted to do an improv scene where he would play himself and another actor, [[Dave Thomas (actor)|Dave Thomas]], would play the doctor who would tell Close that his father had just died from the suicide that Close had described. Thomas refused, saying in the documentary that he didn’t think it would be a good joke and that there was an obligation to the audience to create laughs—not just to make them gasp. Close replied, “Now perhaps you’re not used to this particular kind of horrifying honesty, but I expect the same thing from you and nothing less.”<ref name=":1" />{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Close was addicted to [[heroin]] and [[cocaine]] but decided to change his lifestyle when his student [[John Belushi]] died of a drug overdose in 1982. Although, he continued to smoke weed. Close had recently read the book ''A Witch's Guide to Psychic Healing'' by [[Yvonne Frost]], which argues that the [[Modern Paganism|modern Pagan]] religion [[Wicca]] can provide spiritual healing. He joined a Wiccan [[coven]] in Toronto and fought his drug habit together with Wiccan priests who performed a banishing ritual. He stopped using drugs and remained an active Pagan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Griggs |first=Jeff |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Xg2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |title=Guru: My Days with Del Close |location=Chicago |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |pages=197–198 |isbn=1-56663-614-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Kim "Howard" |author-link=Kim "Howard" Johnson |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuZDmY8al98C&pg=PT243 |title=The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close |location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press |pages=233–234 |isbn=978-1-55652-712-8 }}</ref>

===Death and legacy===
Close died of [[emphysema]] on March 4, 1999, at the Illinois Masonic Hospital (now the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center) in Chicago, five days before his 65th birthday.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |author= Bruce Weber |title=Del Close, 64, a Comedian With a Flair for Improvisation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/16/arts/del-close-64-a-comedian-with-a-flair-for-improvisation.html |url-access=subscription |quote=Del Close, an actor, improvisational comic and mentor to such comedians as John Belushi, John Candy and Bill Murray, died on March 4 at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago. He was 64 and lived in Chicago. ... The cause was emphysema ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 16, 1999 |access-date=2014-09-02}}</ref> He bequeathed his skull to Chicago's [[Goodman Theatre]] to be used in its productions of ''[[Hamlet]]'', and specified that he be duly credited in the program as portraying [[Yorick]]. Charna Halpern, Close's long-time professional partner and the executor of his will, conveyed a skull that she claimed was his, in a high-profile televised ceremony on July 1, 1999.<ref>{{cite news|last=Osnos|first=Evan|author-link=Evan Osnos|title=Even After Death, Del Close Ahead Of Acting Crowd|work=Chicago Tribune|date=July 7, 1999|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/07/02/even-after-death-del-close-ahead-of-acting-crowd/|access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref> 

A front-page article in the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' in July 2006 questioned the authenticity of the skull, however, citing the presence of teeth (Close was [[edentulous]] — toothless — at the time of his death) as well as showing the presence of autopsy marks (Close was never autopsied) among other problems.<ref>Elder, RK (July 21, 2006). No bones about it: Comic got last laugh. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/07/21/no-bones-about-it-comic-got-last-laugh/ Chicago ''Tribune'' archive]. Retrieved March 7, 2013</ref> Halpern stood by her story at the time but admitted three months later, in a ''[[The New Yorker]]'' interview, that she had purchased the skull from a local medical supply company.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Friend|first=Tad|title=Skulduggery|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=October 9, 2006|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/09/skulduggery|access-date=September 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/10/05/not-even-close-skull-not-that-of-improv-legend/|title=Skull not that of Del Close|publisher=Articles.chicagotribune.com|date=October 5, 2006|access-date=August 13, 2011}}</ref>

[[Bill Murray]] organized an early 65th birthday party and wake, shortly before Del's anticipated death as he lay on his deathbed in a Chicago hospital, memorialized in a two-part video.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N2GHwPNiVU Del Close's Last Birthday Party (Part 1 of 2)]. Retrieved January 29, 2018.</ref>

After Close's death, his former students in the [[Upright Citizens Brigade]] founded the annual Del Close Marathon, three days of continuous improvisation by hundreds of performers at various venues in New York City.<ref>Malinski, G (June 25, 2015). "Ten improv shows at the Del Close Marathon that you should see." [http://www.villagevoice.com/arts/ten-improv-shows-at-the-del-close-marathon-you-should-see-7298558 VillageVoice.com]. Retrieved September 24, 2015.</ref>