Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown) Faith Ford (Corky Sherwood), Joe Regalbuto (Frank Fontana) and Grant Shaud (Miles Silverberg) are all set to reprise their original “Murphy Brown” characters when the present-day revival reaches CBS next season — but what about Charles Kimbrough, who played veteran news anchor Jim Dial?
The 81-year-old actor will not be a series regular, a person with knowledge of the production told TheWrap. However, producers plan to bring the Dial character back through a guest-starring role for Kimbrough. That’s one of the many surprises creator Diane English has planned for next season.
Kimbrough has not had an acting role on TV or in film in 15 years. He did some voice work for a video-game franchise as recently as 2016, and appeared for a “Murphy Brown” reunion on Katie Couric’s talk show “Katie” three years before that.
In 2012, Kimbrough was part of the cast of the Roundabout Theater Company’s Broadway revival of Mary Chase’s play “Harvey” starring Emmy-winning “Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons.
CBS ordered 13 episodes for the 2018-19 comeback.
The original decade-long run of “Murphy Brown” earned 62 Emmy nominations, with 18 wins. One of those nominations were Kimbrough’s 1990 nod as an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series option.
Warner Bros. Television, producers of the original series, will produce the new multi-camera comedy with English serving as writer/executive producer through her Bend in the Road Productions banner.
Bergen will also be an executive producer this time around.