If, in 1940, you had a lobotomized aunt, an institutionalized father, a racist mother, and were the only gay kid on the block, what do you think the odds would be that you'd end up a Tony winner, a staple of television, and a generational icon? 

Enter The Life Of Reilly. The cliché goes that truth is stranger than fiction. In this case, it is also funnier and more heartbreaking. Charles Nelson Reilly, famous for his game show innuendos and “X Files” guest appearances, takes us through his bizarre, star-studded, tragic, hilarious, and ultimately amazing life with a potent blend of tenderness and quick one-liners.

The Life Of Reilly is an adaptation of Mr. Reilly's acclaimed one-man show and was photographed for the screen during Mr. Reilly's final two performances of his play in North Hollywood, California.

  

Charles Nelson Reilly, an actor famous for his double entendres on ‘70s game shows and lesser known for Tony Awards on Broadway stages, performed his one man show “Save It For The Stage: The Life Of Reilly” for the last time in October of 2004. This film, The Life Of Reilly, is an adaptation for the screen of that performance.
   

The film takes us through this man’s strange, tragic, and hilarious life, from his birth in a humble neighborhood of the Bronx to his retirement in his posh Beverly Hills abode.  The first stop on the journey is for a look in on Charles’ childhood with his folks in New York City and Connecticut. We meet his family – an institutionalized father, a racist, baseball bat-wielding mother, and a lobotomized aunt, amongst others. “Eugene O’Neill would never get near this family,” Reilly declares.

Prior to being put into an institution, Charles’ father, a film studio poster artist and illustrator, was offered the chance to go into business with another illustrator with the intention of making their first animated film in color together. The catch was simply that the senior Mr. Reilly would have to move himself and his family to California. Perhaps a defining moment in young Charles’ life, his father asked his mother her thoughts and she unceremoniously rejected the possibility. The other illustrator went West without the senior Mr. Reilly as a partner. That other illustrator was named Walt Disney.
   

Young and hungry (literally), Charles managed to find an acting class that was rather liberal in its door policy and would let in aspiring actors even if they didn’t have the money to pay.

Charles’ class was taught by a young, award-winning, soon-to-be-legendary actress, Uta Hagen. In the class were such future stars and notables as Steve McQueen, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meira, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, and Gene Hackman. It was a group of future Academy, Tony and Emmy winners, and, as Charles explains, “We wanted to go on the stage, none of us had any money, and this entire list… couldn’t act for shit.”

It was about this time when a friend of Charles’ arranged a meeting with a powerful NBC executive. Charles went in and was told, “They don’t let queers on television.” In retrospect, Charles describes it as, “A short meeting.” Despite the apparent prejudice against him, his talent and tenacity landed him on Broadway, winning his first Tony for his role in “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”.

Charles went on to become a fixture in television appearing in numerous episodes of “Car 54 Where are you?”, “The Ghost And Mrs. Muir”, and starring in “Lidsville”. He also made hundreds of guest appearances on “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson”, second in number of appearances only to Bob Hope, and had a more recent memorable guest spot on “The X Files”. Over the years, he developed a habit of looking through the week’s TV Guide to see how many times he would be on TV that week. Coming in at over a hundred separate appearances, he reflected on the NBC executive who told him he would not be allowed on television – but now Charles wondered, “Who do I have to fuck to get off?!”

Success came to Charles’ professional life, and he has used all the knowledge and expertise he has gained through a lifetime spent acting to teach. His longtime friend Burt Reynolds gifted him a theater in which to teach the craft of acting, and it has fulfilled Charles ever since. As we leave him in what he calls “The twilight of an extraordinary life”, we see a portrait of an artist, a victim of prejudice who rose above it, a trailblazing comedic personality, an entertainer, a son, a teacher, and a man laid bare for all to see. And the old pro makes us laugh raucously through the entire journey.