In 1960, Lynde returned to Broadway when he was cast as "Harry MacAfee," the father in Bye Bye Birdie. He reprised the role in the play's film adaptation, which was released in 1963. That same year, he recorded a live album, Recently Released, issued as an LP record. All six tracks were written by him. Once he could afford writers, he rarely used his own material until his tenure on Hollywood Squares years later.
Lynde also did extensive voice work on animated cartoons, particularly those of Hanna-Barbera Productions. His most notable roles included The Hooded Claw in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (although he was uncredited), Mildew Wolf from It's the Wolf (a segment of Cattanooga Cats), and Pertwee from Where's Huddles?. He also voiced the role of Templeton the gluttonous rat in the animated featureCharlotte's Web. Lynde's sardonic inflections added a dimension to such lines as the sly, drawn-out whine, "What's in it for meeee?" Lynde's distinctive voice is popular among impressionists. In the 1999 animated series Queer Duck the character Bi-Polar Bear (voiced by Billy West) speaks with an imitation of Lynde's voice. Although it is sometimes assumed that actress Alice Ghostley based her speech patterns and mannerisms on Lynde's, according to actress Kaye Ballard "it was Paul who was influenced by Alice".[6]
Hollywood Squares
In 1966, Lynde debuted on the fledgling game show Hollywood Squares and quickly became its iconic guest star. Eventually he assumed a permanent spot as the "center square," a move which ensured that he would be called upon by contestants at least once in almost every round. Despite an urban legend to the contrary, Paul Lynde remained in the center at the producers' discretion. Many NBC tour guides have claimed that Lynde was afraid of earthquakes and the center square proved to be the safest square of the show's set. An anecdote related during the A&E Biography on Lynde described an earthquake that occurred during the Hollywood Squares taping that frightened and alarmed many of the guests. Lynde remained in his seat, tapping his fingers, asking if they were going to finish the show.[citation needed]
It was on Hollywood Squares that Lynde was best able to showcase his comedic talents with short, salty one-liners, delivered in his trademark sniggering delivery.[3] Many of these gags were thinly-veiled allusions to his homosexuality. Asked "You're the world's most popular fruit. What are you?" Lynde replied, "Humble."[7] Asked how many men are on a hockey team, Lynde said, "Oh, about half." Asked whether it was against the law in Texas to call a Marine a "sissy," Lynde quipped, "I guess I’ll have to take the law into my own hands."[8]
Other jokes relied on double entendre, an alleged fondness for deviant behaviors, or dealt with "touchy" subject matter for 1970s television. Examples include:
Q: “What unusual thing do you do, if you have something called 'the gift of tongues'?”
Lynde: “I wouldn’t tell the grand jury; why should I tell you?”
Q: "The great writer George Bernard Shaw once wrote, 'It's such a wonderful thing, what a crime to waste it on children.' What is it?"
Q: "Paul, any good boat enthusiast should know that when a man falls out of your boat and into the water, you should yell 'Man overboard!' Now what should you yell if a woman falls overboard?"
Lynde garnered considerable fame and wealth from the series.[13] He bought Errol Flynn's old Hollywood Mansion[14] and spent an enormous amount of money on renovations and decorations.
The Paul Lynde Show and Temperatures Rising
In 1972, Lynde starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom, The Paul Lynde Show, playing an uptight attorney and father at odds with his liberal-minded son-in-law. The series was a contractual fulfillment to ABC in place of an aborted ninth season of Bewitched.[citation needed]
Lynde starred as Paul Simms, the father of a family that consisted of wife Martha (Elizabeth Allen) and daughters Barbara (Jane Actman) and Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin). It also starred John Calvin as Barbara's husband, Howie, and Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara as Howie's parents. Critics perceived the show as a derivative of All in the Family, then television's most-popular primetime program, although many admitted writing was top notch and the sexual connotations gave it an extra bit of spice. Lynde was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for the show. Scheduled opposite the first half of the Top 30 hit The Carol Burnett Show on CBS and the Top 20 hit Adam-12 on NBC, the series garnered low ratings and was canceled after a single season.[citation needed]
Media reports at the time about ABC programs indicated that research showed viewers liked another ABC show, Temperatures Rising but disliked James Whitmore, whereas viewers liked Lynde but not The Paul Lynde Show. Therefore, the network and producer William Asher decided to dismiss Whitmore and combine the positive elements of both series. Lynde was "transferred" to Temperatures Rising for the 1973-74 season. The trick did not work and the ratings for The New Temperatures Rising sank within weeks of the premiere.[citation needed]
Due to plummeting ratings, the network cancelled the show mid-season, its time slot taken by a mid-season replacement, the long-running Happy Days. ABC resuscitated it—with still more changes in cast (most notably, Alice Ghostley replaced Sudie Bond in the role of Lynde's sister Edwina) and premise—in the summer of 1974, when it ran for two months. Neither actor's presence in the cast helped the show's flagging ratings and this series, too, was not renewed and was replaced permanently by Happy Days.[citation needed]
In 1976 Lynde received an Entertainer of the Year award for being voted the funniest man of the year, which he immediately turned over to host Jackie Gleason, citing him as "the funniest man ever." This gesture was totally unexpected and shocked Jackie Gleason.[citation needed]
Alcoholism, arrests and final years
Although he was voted America’s favorite comedian in a 1974 poll and highly sought out for every manner of TV game and variety show, it was the failure of his two series that reportedly exacerbated Lynde’s drinking problem, leading to numerous run-ins with the law and frequent arrests for public intoxication.[3] According to Peter Marshall[15] and Kaye Ballard[16], the actor would sometimes verbally ridicule his friends when inebriated.
Despite this, Lynde's continuing popularity led to his being signed by ABC to host a series of specials from 1975 to 1979, including:
The Paul Lynde Comedy Hour (November 6, 1975) with Jack Albertson, Nancy Walker and the Osmond Brothers;
Paul Lynde Goes M-A-A-A-AD (May 20, 1979) with Marie Osmond, Charo and Vicki Lawrence.
Lynde also suffered from weight control problems, and was honored in 1977 by Weight Watchers. That same year, Lynde's beloved dog, Harry MacAfee, died.[14] Lynde could not stay in the house without him, and bought a new home later in the year. Once again, he spent a great deal of money to renovate the house.
In 1978, Lynde was in Salt Lake City for an appearance on The Donny and Marie Show. At about 1:30 in the morning on January 4, he was arrested outside of a gay bar for interfering with a police officer. The officer, who was investigating a car burglary, claimed Lynde kept insisting that the officer "...attend to Lynde's complaint that his briefcase with $1,000 in cash and valuables inside had been stolen."[19] The complaint was later dropped, but he lost his guest starring role on The Donny and Marie Show as a result.
By late 1979, Lynde became disenchanted with being what he called "boxed into" Hollywood Squares and departed the series. Acting jobs dried up afterwards, although it is unclear if this was due to anti-gay prejudice of the era or Lynde's known substance abuse and alcohol problems which made Lynde difficult to work with.[20]
Lynde finally became sober and drug free in early 1980. At this time, Hollywood Squares was experiencing a downward trend in ratings. Lynde did not want to return, but according to Peter Marshall, its producers made Lynde an offer he could not refuse—including co-star billing with Marshall—and he returned to the series in the spring of that year. He remained with the show until it was cancelled in February 1981.
Death
On Monday, January 11, 1982, after Lynde had failed to turn up for a birthday celebration, his friend Paul Barresi became concerned. When he and another friend, actor Dean Ditman, could not get an answer on the phone or from knocking on his door, Barresi broke into the side entrance to Lynde's home in Beverly Hills, California, where Lynde was found dead in his bed. Stories suggesting Lynde had a visitor at the time of his death who fled the scene are not true. Lynde always put the house alarm on before retiring for the evening. When Barresi broke in, the alarm blared, indicating Lynde was alone at the time of his death.[21][22] The coroner ruled the death a heart attack.[21] Lynde's cremated remains are interred at Amity Cemetery, in Amity, (Knox County) Ohio, next to those of his brother Johnny and sister Helen. His father and mother are buried at the same cemetery.
Legacy
Paul Lynde's popularity has continued after his death. According to cartoon creator/voice actor, Seth MacFarlane, the voice of Roger the Alien on the Fox television show American Dad! was modelled after him.[23] The voice and humor of Queer Duck character Bi-Polar Bear, voiced by Billy West, is also done in the style of Paul Lynde, as was the supervillain The Scoutmaster in the Simpsons episode "Radioactive Man". Steve Carell reprised Lynde's role as "Uncle Arthur" in the 2005 film Bewitched, very much in Lynde's style. The voice of Big Cheese on Samurai Pizza Cats was a Paul Lynde impression. The voice and humor of William A. Mummy on the GSN game show Late Night Liars is performed in the vein of Paul Lynde as well. In 2010, Lynde appeared in the center square in the Futurama episode "Lethal Inspection".
Actor/comedian Michael Airington also plays Paul Lynde in the show Oh My Goodness It's Paul Lynde and An Evening with Paul Lynde, recreating Lynde's 1976 live show, and in Off Center: The Paul Lynde Show.[24] Airington licenses the rights from the Paul Lynde Estate.[25]
Personal life
Lynde's sexual orientation was something of an open secret in Hollywood, although, in keeping with the social mores of the time, it was not acknowledged or discussed in public. In a 2013 radio interview, Dick Van Dyke recalled the wrap party for Bye Bye Birdie. A series of men gave short speeches, each one praising Ann-Margret and predicting success and stardom for the young actress. When it was Lynde's turn to speak, he began, "Well, I guess I'm the only one here who doesn’t want to fuck Ann-Margret."[26]
In 1965, Lynde was involved in an accident in which a young actor, reputed to be his lover, fell to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The two had been drinking for hours before 24-year-old James "Bing" Davidson slipped[27] and fell eight stories. The event was witnessed by two policemen, yet it was largely kept out of the press, thus saving Lynde's career.
Despite his campy television persona, Lynde never publicly came out as gay and the press generally refrained from commenting about it. In 1976, a People magazine article on Lynde featured him and Stan Finesmith; the latter was dubbed Lynde's "suite mate" and “chauffeur-bodyguard.” In the 1970s, this was as close as the press would come to hinting at his sexuality.[20]
^Paul E. Lynde, age 3-9/12 years. U.S. Census, 1 April 1930, State of Ohio, County of Knox, enumeration district 9, p. 7A, family 202.
^Paul Edward Lynde, born 13 June 1926, died 11 January 1982. Ancestry.com. California Death Index, 1940–1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000.
