Larry Blyden
Larry Blyden (
June 23,
1925 -
June 6,
1975) was an
American actor.
He was born as
Ivan Lawrence Blieden in
Houston, Texas, and died in
Morocco a car accident, shortly before his 50th birthday.
Blyden's career had 3 distinct phases. For most of his career, he was known as a good, solid
character actor for TV and also as a highly in demand
Broadway actor. As for as
television is concerned, he starred in one sitcom, "Harry's Girls", which ran from 1963 to 1964. In this adaptation of the Robert E. Sherwood play "Idiot's Delight," Blyden starred as Harry, who was a vaudeville style performer constantly getting into trouble and falling in love. Other than his one starring role, Blyden did many, many guest performances on dramatic anthology series such as
Playhouse 90,
Omnibus, the
Loretta Young Show and many, many others along with
The Twilight Zone and other non-anthology dramatic programs. Although he was generally cast as a nice guy, his two
Twilight Zone episodes display an impressive range as he takes on two very different jerks: the tough-talking hood who dies and finds the afterlife a little
too pleasant in the classic episode
A Nice Place to Visit, and the titular vain, cowardly cowboy star in the comedic episode
Showdown with Rance McGrew.
Blyden was an in-demand Broadway and off-Broadway actor. He starred in shows such as
Mister Roberts (where he played the role later played by Jack Lemmon in the film version),
Harold,
Foxy and
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, for which he won the
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the role of Hysterium, a slave. His performance in
Flower Drum Song as
Sammy Fong also was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Late in his career, once he had reached the age where actors typically get less work, he became a game show presenter and MC, starting with
Personality in 1967. He also hosted
You're Putting Me On,
The Movie Game and finally and most successfully,
What's My Line?. When he died, he was about to host the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman produced show,
Showoffs, which was eventually hosted by
Bobby Van.
Blyden also had a brief and rather uneventful film career. He played secondary parts in the films
Kiss Them For Me (1957),
The Bachelor Party (also 1957), and
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970).
In all of these endeavors, Larry was warm, friendly and gregarious. Of all of the
What's My Line hosts, he was the only one who seemed to completely become involved in the occupations of the contestants. As the
Game Shows '75 site notes, Larry brightened things up considerably when he took over as host. His most common expressions were "That's Terrific!" or "I Can Do That!" when presented with a new challenge. According to Gil Fates' book
What's My Line from 1978, Larry's house was full of all sorts of nicknacks that he had gotten from the show and elsewhere. In fact, he was so big into collectibles that the producers of the show had to dissuade him from taking home certain large items.
Larry was married to actress and dancer
Carol Haney (1925-64) from 1955 to 1962. The couple had 2 children, Joshua (1957-2000) and Ellen (1960-present).
Larry was also known as a lover of the ladies. His favorite saying, according to Fates' book, was "I'd love to jump her bones!" Given that he wasn't considered a "hunk" in the typical sense, one has the feeling that his personality won a lot of women over.
* Fates, Gil (1978) "What's My Line". Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0139551468
*
Larry Blyden's obit
