Singing the Goodbye Song

Actress Lynne Thigpen has died at 54. Cause of death is as yet unknown: she was not known to be in ill health.

She was a veteran of stage, screen, and television. You may not have known her name, but you'd know her if you saw her—a compact, no-nonsense black woman who could use her booming voice to either dramatic or comic effect, always eager for a bit of self-parody.

Lately, she was a regular on CBS's The District. But if you had kids in the late 1990s—if you lived in the States and had cable—you probably know her as the voice of a puppet moon, singing with a guy in a bear suit.

As the voice of Luna on Bear in the Big Blue House, Thigpen went soft, in the best possible way: her tone was wise, gentle, eternally patient. Like a force of nature. Like, well, the Moon. It takes one hell of an actress to be able to not only capture the essence of the Moon in performance, but to be the definitive Moon. If the Moon should ever speak, I have no doubt it will sound just like Lynne Thigpen.

So go to the attic tonight, gaze out at her face, just a few days before she comes on full, and sing one last round of The Goodbye Song.