Larry Blyden

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Larry Blyden

Born Ivan Lawrence Blieden
June 23, 1925
Houston, Texas
Died June 6, 1975
Agadir, Morocco
Spouse(s) Carol Haney (1955-1962)

Larry Blyden (June 23, 1925 - June 6, 1975) was an American Tony Award winning actor and game show host, best known for his appearances on Broadway and as the host of the game show What's My Line?

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Blyden was born as Ivan Lawrence Blieden in Houston, Texas, and died in Morocco in a car accident. He was Jewish.[1] He 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).

[edit] Career

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 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, The Apple Tree and a revival (which he helped produce) of 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 (1957), and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970).

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Gardner, Paul. "'Frogs' They Would A-Swimming Go", The New York Times, 1974-05-19. Retrieved on 2006-12-13. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Keene Curtis
for The Rothschilds		 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
1972
for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum		 Succeeded by
George S. Irving
for Irene
Preceded by
Wally Bruner		 Host of What's My Line?
1972–1975		 Succeeded by
Show ended