Creator / Paul Lynde

Paul Edward Lynde (June 13, 1926 – January 10, 1982) was an American comedian and actor, best known for occupying the center square on The Hollywood Squares. He also appeared on numerous TV sitcoms (most notably in the recurring role of Samantha's mischievous Uncle Arthur on Bewitched), did some animation voice work, and was a recurring guest on the Donny And Marie variety show.

With a Camp Gay persona (despite never publicly coming out during his lifetime, he pretty much occupied a Transparent Closet)^note The closest he came to outing himself was when he snidely quipped, in response to a query from a fan on the question of when he would finally settle down with a nice girl, "Have you been living in a cave?" — it was also an Open Secret that Lynde spent a number of years in a relationship with hairstylist Stan Finesmith, and was more than likely lovers with fellow actor Bing Davidson until Davidson's tragic death in a fall from a hotel balcony (right in front of Lynde's eyes, no less) in 1965., Lynde was also a rather Large Ham.

Lynde's distinctive vocal affect (nasal, halting, and sing-songy) lended itself very well to a side career in voice acting, and has often been imitated in many productions after his death, including Seth MacFarlane's portrayal of Roger the Alien on American Dad!, Jeff Bennett's portrayal of Peppermint Larry on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and John Stephenson's portrayal of Wilford Wolf on The Kwicky Koala Show. Steve Carell portrayed "the spirit of Uncle Arthur" in a fantasy sequence in the film remake of Bewitched, performing a spot-on Lynde imitation often regarded as one of the highlights of the film.

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Works with articles on this wiki

• Son of Flubber (as The Sportscaster)
• Beach Blanket Bingo (as Bullets)
• Bewitched (recurring, as Uncle Arthur)
• Bye Bye Birdie (as Harry MacAfee; he originated the role on Broadway and also appeared in the film adaptation)
• The Cattanooga Cats (as the voice of Mildew Wolf in the segment It's the Wolf; he was uncredited)
• Charlotte's Web (1973) (as the voice of the rat Templeton)
• The Dating Game (as himself)
• Donny And Marie (as himself)
• The Hollywood Squares (as himself, most often occupying the center square)
• The Munsters (recurring, as nearsighted physician Dr. Dudley; except for a Season 2 episode in which the character was portrayed by Dom DeLuise)
• The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (as, unsurprisingly, himself)
• The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (as the voice of Sylvester Sneekly a.k.a. The Hooded Claw; he was uncredited)
• The Villain (as Nervous Elk)
• Where's Huddles? (as the voice of neighbor Claude Pertwee)

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• Big Fun: How Lynde discovered his talent for comedy. After having mononucleosis, his weight ballooned to 250 pounds as a teen. When other teens began to make fun of him, he used humor to make them laugh with him instead of at him. Despite this, however, Lynde hated being overweight and as an adult, he was extremely self-conscious about it.