Graham Timbes

Graham Timbes, actor, director, poet, screenplay writer, teacher and raconteur, died with his wife of 15 years, Cynthia “Maggie” Mosteller and life-long friend Cooper “Pin” Van Antwerp by his side in his Montrose home on Wednesday, October 9. Graham was born in Mobile on February 8, 1944, and when he was 5 years old, his family moved to Montrose where he grew up camping on the beach at the end of Sibley St. and loved the freedom of playing outdoors with the children of his neighborhood. He attended the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education He graduated in 1962 from Fairhope High School. He went on to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he spent a short time as a ”walk on” with Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, before changing his focus from football to the theatre. Graham earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Drama and English in 1967. Graham was drafted into the Army as a private on October 16, 1968 and wasHonorably Discharged July 15, 1970 with the rank of sergeant after serving as Operations Officer with the 101st Airborne Division.While in that conflict, he wrote a collection of poems which he called and were later published as Scribblings of a Godless Anarchist: Part One. He said, “The artist in me had to come out to remind me that creativity and beauty still existed in spite of the grotesque war that had become my life.” After his year in the Army, he returned to the University of Alabama to complete his MA Degree in Theater. He then went on to study acting with the noted teacher Mary Tarcai in New York City where he honed his craft as a method actor and worked off-Broadway at Café La Mama where he appeared with Jeff Weiss in several original plays. He played character roles in Outdoor Theater in Ohio, Florida and North Carolina and spent eight years in Hollywood, working in such television series as Remington Steele with Pierce Brosnan and films which included A Time to Kill with Kevin Spacey and Matthew McConaughey. Returning to Alabama, Graham was founding director of the American Company, a professional children’s theater company that performed Graham’s original plays for elementary and secondary schools throughout the Southeastern United States.  A fixture in the professional Jubilee Fish Theater as well as Theater 98, he performed in a variety of character roles locally.  He appeared in the films The Disciple and The Long Walk Home, and in the series From the Earth to the Moon produced by Tom Hanks. Graham was an inspiration to young local actors, teaching classes in Acting for the Camera and basic theater courses. His knowledge of the theater and his seriousness about his craft impressed the NYC equity actors with whom he worked at Jubilee Fish Theater. He had an excellent stage voice, often working with Mobile’s Soundworks Productions for radio and television spots. With sponsorship from the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, Graham wrote, directed and produced a stage play called Characters which featured the young actors he had taught. It highlighted the Colony’s founders as well as other colorful Fairhope iconic figures and was produced for Fairhope’s Centennial celebration in 1997. While strongly opinionated, Graham was generous and kind, a friend to many and always ready with a helping hand. His wit and wisdom was appreciated by many and his ability to relate stories of his own life along with tall tales and humorous adventures made him a pleasure to know and be around..In addition to his wife Cynthia Mosteller-Timbes, known as Maggie, Graham is survived by her 2 daughters, Kristin Camille Carroll (Kurtis Sparrow) of Carbondale, Colorado, and Lauren St. John Carroll (John Holman) of Fairhope. Also surviving Graham are his sisters, Billye Timbes of Rock Hill, SC. and Mary Lois Adshead of Kingston, NY. A celebration of Graham’s life will be held at his home in Montrose on Saturday, February 8, 2020. Details will be made public in advance of the event. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations to: Fisher House Foundation, 12300 Twinbrook Pkwy, Suite 410 Rockville, MD 20852 or on-line at: www.donations@fisherhouse.org. Fisher House Foundation provides temporary housing and support to veterans’ families at no cost during their veteran’s hospitalization. These homes are located at major military and VA medical centers nationwide. Graham’s family wishes to thank the Kindred Home Health and Hospice personnel for their care over the last 2 years. ##