Paul Lynde

Paul Lynde was an American comedian and actor whose campy wit made him one of the most beloved personalities in American television. He originated the flustered father Harry MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway in 1960 and reprised the role in the 1963 film adaptation, and appeared in 1960s comedies including Send Me No Flowers, Beach Blanket Bingo, and The Glass Bottom Boat. He is best known as the center square on Hollywood Squares (1966), where his acid one-liners made him a national institution, and as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched (1964). His queerness was understood by millions of Americans who watched him weekly -- his delivery, his persona, and the content of his humor all signaled it unmistakably -- but he never formally came out, the era not permitting it. He struggled for years with alcoholism, which strained his friendships and increasingly limited his acting work, and died of a heart attack in January 1982, at 55.