Paul Lynde was starting to attract the wrong kind of attention in public as the 1970s were coming to an end following two arrests, both for drunken behavior.
"I didn't go, but the next day the college paper had his picture on the front page, sitting up in a convertible, wearing a huge fur coat, jewelry dangling round his neck and clustered on his fingers, his hand clasping a drink, beaming at the crowd. That night, one of my roommates came back from Burger King and said they'd just seen Paul Lynde in the queue there, and that he seemed really out of it.
Opening and interview with Paul Lynde from a 1976 Tonight show.
It was also around this time that the comic was ejected from an airliner, drunk and wearing nothing but a blanket. These antics carried over to his work life - in 1979, Lynde was fired from Hollywood Squares for being intoxicated and belligerent on the set once to often. On several occasions he had to be forcibly removed from the studio because of his outrageous tirades, lashing out angrily at his fellow celebs, audience members and even the contestants.
He was replaced on Squares by Henny Youngman. Paul Lynde hit the National Enquirer with a $10 million lawsuit because 'an insider' claimed he was forced to leave the Hollywood Squares because his costars objected "to his drinking and nastiness." The suit ultimately went nowhere, but Lynde claimed, "It's worth a lawsuit just to find out who the insider is." Lynde returned to the Hollywood Squares in 1980 after the show suffered a ratings collapse following his departure; Squares was cancelled soon after.
With game shows falling out of favor and variety shows practically nonexistent by 1981, no one needed Paul Lynde for television roles anymore and the spotlight faded.
Anyway, this guy comes in to look at the ad I’d done for him and he shows me a check he received the previous night made out for a thousand dollars - signed by Paul Lynde.
A week later, on Monday, January 11, 1982, Paul Lynde was found dead in his West Hollywood home, in bed with a bottle of "Poppers" (Amyl Nitrate, an inhalant used to enhance sex - I looked it up!) nearby. I was told by an insider that Lynde likely had a heart attack on Saturday night while having sex with someone who just walked out of the Beverly Hills home when the seizure happened, without even bothering to call for help.
"I read Adam Kimmel's account of Paul Lynde at Burger King at Northwestern.
- Anne Schendel, Northwestern '82 What
happened to Paul Lynde? Hit Shows of the Seventies: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Gene Roddenberry in the 1970s / Star Trek Animated / Dark Shadows Movies / The Music Dark Shadows / 1970 TV Shows / Mike Connors Remembered / Mike Wallace, Virginia Graham & Jim Longworth / Dick Clark / Fall Previews of the 70s / Lance Link, Secret Chimp / Star Wars Holiday Special / Alias Smith and Jones / 1977 Year in Review / Top Ten 1970-76 / The Rockford Files / All in the Family / Sam Hall (Dark Shadows) Interview / Actor Ed Nelson / Death of Archie / Battlestar Galactica / Wonder Woman / Network Jingles / Class of '74 / Happy Days / Good Times / Mr. Bill / Dinah! / Maude / Doris Day Show / Pamelyn Ferdin Interview / The Bicentennial Minute / Jingles & Catch Phrases of the 1970s / Early Cable TV 1970s / TV commercials for Women / TV Moms / Country Music TV Shows of the 1960s & 1970s / Betty White Show / Rodney Dangerfield / How Sanford & Son Ended / Sanford & Son Spin-Off Grady / Great Memoirs / Virginia Graham Show / The "N" Word on TV / 10 Classic Comedy Routines You Have To Laugh At Before You Die / Hollywood Squares / 1970's Teen Idols & The Hudson Brothers / Unsold Pilots / Jackie Cooper / The Good Guys / Match Game / Mannix & Gail Fisher / Bette Midler in the 1970s / Bonus 1970's Stuff: Silent Star Marion Mack / Biff Burger / 1970s Fast Food Chains / Latin Casino |
What
happened to Paul Lynde? TV
on DVD / / Holiday
Specials on DVD
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