Paul Lynde
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Paul Lynde |
Bucks County Playhouse productions
Season In The Sun - Paul Anderson - 1958
The Desk Set - Richard Sumner - 1958
Visit To A Small Planet - General Tom Powers - 1958
Internet Broadway Database - Paul Lynde
Internet Movie Database - Paul Lynde
Paul Lynde
(1926 - 1982)
PAUL LYNDE's life as an entertainer was unique because his greatest claim to fame was as a game show panelist -- a job that usually marks a celebrity career in decline. As the center of the original "Hollywood Squares", the comedic actor earned a hefty paycheck and two Emmy Awards and exploited his popularity as the star of two sitcoms and a handful of variety specials and as a guest on scores of other television shows.
Over the course of three decades, he was a comedy writer, a nightclub performer, a Broadway actor and director, a recording artist, a commercial pitchman, a supporting actor in films, a voice actor on cartoons, and a headliner on the summer stock circuit.
Paul was the son of the sheriff of a small Ohio town and lived over the jail when he was very young. When his father wasn't being sheriff, he was the town butcher. Paul spent hours after school plucking chickens. His mother's main occupation seemed to be cooking. Food was the main event of the Lynde household. When Paul entered high school, he weighed 260 pounds. Obsessing about losing weight would become a big theme for the rest of Paul's life. After high school, he went to Northwestern University's drama school, where he appeared in many comedic roles. After college, Paul headed for New York, where he looked for work, waited tables, and sold his blood for $5 a pint. He also suffered a triple family tragedy. His brother was killed in the Battle of the Bulge and both his mother and father died within days of the news.
Paul Lynde related that Paul's big break came in 1950. He won a stand-up comedy contest that led to club dates and a role on Broadway in New Faces of 1952, where he performed his now-famous "Trip of the Month Club" monologue. After that, he got spots on variety shows like "The Jerry Lewis Show"; he also did radio work and summer stock theater. But it would take another eight years before he got a big role again. In 1960, he won the role of Harry MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie. The show became a smash hit on Broadway, and Paul then reprised the role in the film three years later. Finally, he was a bona fide comic star. He passed away on January 10, 1982.