‘Salute Your Shorts’ Star Kirk Baily Dies at 59

Kirk Baily, the actor best known for playing camp counselor Kevin “Ug” Lee on the 1991 Nickelodeon sitcom Salute Your Shorts, has died. He was 59.

The news of Baily’s death was confirmed by his domestic partner, Ranjani Brow, who revealed that he passed away on February 27 in Los Angeles after a battle with lung cancer. He is survived by Brow and two children.

Baily was born on February 2, 1963, in New York City and began his career as a drama teacher and drama coach. His break into showbusiness came in the early 1980s, providing voices for various anime series. He would later land acting roles in the films Anna and Voodoo Dawn before being cast in Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts, based on the book of the same name by Steve Slavkin and Thomas Hill.

Salute Your Shorts ran for two seasons and revolved around the campers and counselors at the fictional Camp Anawanna. Baily’s character Ug was an antagonist and often pranked by the kids. The show starred Danny Cooksey, Erik MacArthur, Blake Soper, Michael Bower, Trevor Eyster, Venus DeMilo Thomas, Heidi Lucas, and Megan Berwick. In 2019, many of the cast reunited at the Good Burger pop-up shop in Hollywood.

After Salute Your Shorts, Baily appeared in guest spots in numerous televisions shows, including Beverly Hills, 90210, The Larry Sanders Show, Star Trek: Voyager, Melrose Place, Felicity, and NYPD Blue. He also continued to provide voice-over work for anime and animated movies, such as Cowboy Bebop, ParaNorman, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run.

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He most recently had a voice acting credit in the 2021 film Night of the Animated Dead, a remake of George A. Romer’s classic horror movie Night of the Living Dead. His final voice role was in the upcoming animated comedy film DC League of Super-Pets, scheduled for release on May 20, 2022.