- Born
- Died
- Birth namePaul Edward Lynde
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Paul Lynde was born in 1926 in Mount Vernon, Ohio (one of six children and the middle of four boys). His father was a local police officer and the sheriff of the Mount Vernon Jail for two years. Lynde got his inspiration to become an actor at the age of four or five after his mother took him to see the original silent film Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). After graduating from Northwestern University, Lynde relocated to New York City where his first break came from being a stand-up comedian at the Number One Fifth Avenue nightclub. Then came an appearance on a Broadway show, "New Faces of 1952".
Lynde also had a two-year run on TV with Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948) and the Broadway and film versions of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Throught his life, Lynde appeared in the Broadway plays "The Impossible Years", "Don't Drink the Water", and "Plaza Suite". His many film credits include New Faces (1954), Send Me No Flowers (1964), and Rabbit Test (1978). One of his most memorable roles was a recurring role on Bewitched (1964) playing the sneering, sarcastic Uncle Arthur. He appeared on TV's The Dean Martin Show (1965), The Kraft Music Hall (1967), Donny and Marie (1975), and both the prime-time and daytime versions of the game show The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965) where he occupied the famous center square. He had two TV series of his own, The Paul Lynde Show (1972) and The New Temperatures Rising Show (1972). Paul Lynde's witty, wisecracking one-liners and his novel line delivery made him one of Hollywood's funniest and best loved entertainers. Paul Lynde died under mysterious circumstances when he was found dead in his bed after possibly suffering a heart attack in January 1982 at age 55. He had been in ill-health for over a year with cancer or some other illness that was never fully revealed to the public before or after his death.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- ParentsHoy Corydon LyndeSylvia Bell Doup
- His distinctive laugh after every joke he made on The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965)
- Nasally voice
- Long-time "center square" and court jester in residence on the original The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965), Paul Lynde's quips on that show are still quoted, and laughed at, to this day.
- Explained his lifelong bachelorhood to fans (in the days before "coming out") by telling them his high-school sweetheart had broken his heart, and he was still too hurt to give other women a chance.
- The coroner who examined his body said he had the heart of an 88-year-old man.
- His older brother Cordon died in World War II.
- Lynde and long-term companion, Bing Davidson were staying at the Drake hotel in San Francisco, California on July 17, 1965. The two went out the next day for a good time and got very drunk. Davidson decided to show Lynde a trick and dangled off the hotel balcony by his fingers. He was slipping and Paul desperately tried to help him in, but Davidson fell to his death.
- Upon telling his family he wanted to go into show business: "My dad hit the roof and I hit the road, simultaneously."
- I don't know who the hell Paul Lynde is or why he's funny, and I prefer it to be a mystery to me. An actor shouldn't undergo psychoanalysis, because there are a lot of things you're better off not knowing.
- I have so many friends who were lovers. After they got married, it was over.
- I'm used to living alone, and I like it that way. You become so selfish living alone...I'd make a terrible husband anyway.
- I don't meet enough women outside show business, and I wouldn't marry anyone in this field. [in 1969]
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