One of the people most responsible for giving legitimacy to the art form of improvisational comedy, Del Close died on March 4, 1999 at the age of 64 after being hospitalized at Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a failing heart and respiratory system. Close began his improv career with The Compass Players, and went on to train/direct at Second City from 1973-1982 (teaching people like John Belushi), and the Saturday Night Live cast. Founding the influential improv school, ImprovOlympic, with Charna Halpern, Close essentially invented long-form improvisation as we know it -- his improv team game, The Harold, is practiced in countries around the world.
He appeared in a number of feature films including American Graffiti (1973), Thief (1981), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, he was the English teacher), Light of Day (1987), The Big Town (1987), The Untouchables (1987), The Blob (1988), Next of Kin (1989), Fat Man and Little Boy (1989), and The Public Eye.
On the other side of the spectrum, he was a subtle actor in a number of diverse roles. His cynically wry Polonius in "Hamlet" at Wisdom Bridge Theatre in 1985 was a show-stealer, and won him a Jeff Award. Among his other stage performances were Steppenwolf Theatre's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" and "You Can't Take It With You"; "The Time of Your Life" for Remains Theatre; and "Pal Joey," "All's Well That Ends Well" and "The Merchant of Venice" for the Goodman Theatre.
He was co-author (with Halpern and Kim "Howard" Johnson) of the textbook Truth in Comedy: the Manual of Improvisation. He also had a spoken word comedy album, How To Speak Hip., and even for a time co-wrote Wasteland for DC Comics. In a bio for one Second City show, he wrote: "This is the first Second City revue Del has directed sober. Hehopes it doesn't show."
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