Andy Clyde
| Andy Clyde | |
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 Clyde as Cully Wilson, an eccentric farmer and nature lover in the Lassie television series |
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| Born | Andrew Allan Clyde March 25, 1892 Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland |
| Died | May 18, 1967 (aged 75) Los Angeles, California |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale |
| Years active | 1921-1966 |
Andy Clyde (March 25, 1892 — May 18, 1967) was a Scottish movie and TV actor whose career spanned more than four decades. He broke into silent films in 1925 as a Mack Sennett comic. Born Andrew Allan Clyde, he was the fifth of six children of Scottish theatrical actor, producer and manager John Clyde.[1] Both his brother David and sister Jean also became screen actors.[2][3]
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[edit] Career
Andy Clyde first went to America in 1912 on tour in a company performing a play called The Concealed Bed. At the invitation of his close friend James Finlayson, he went back to the United States in the early 1920s to join producer Mack Sennett's roster of comedians.[4]
Clyde's mastery of makeup allowed him tremendous versatility; he could play everything from grubby young guttersnipes to old crackpot scientists. He hit upon an "old man" characterization in his short comedies, which were immediately successful. Adopting a gray wig and mustache, he used this makeup for the rest of his short-subject career, and the character was so durable that he literally grew into it. He starred in short comedies longer than any other actor: 27 years.
He remained with Mack Sennett and made a successful transition to sound films. In 1932, when the Sennett studio was facing financial problems, Sennett cut Clyde's salary. Clyde objected and Sennett put the "old man" costume on character actor Irving Bacon. Audiences saw through it and Sennett abandoned the character. Sennett's distributor, Educational Pictures, took over the Andy Clyde series, which continued for two more years.
Columbia Pictures launched its short subject department in 1934 and Andy Clyde was one of the first comedy stars signed by producer Jules White. Unlike many of the Columbia short-subject comedians who indulged in broad facial and physical gestures, Clyde was subtler and more economical: his comic timing was so good that he could merely lift an eyebrow, shudder slightly, or mutter "My, my, my" for humorous effect. His work for Columbia was so prolific that, from the mid-1940s, the studio was able to produce lower-budgeted remakes, editing older scenes into the new ones. You Were Never Uglier (1944) was remade with the same principals in 1953 as Hooked and Rooked, for example. Clyde was such an audience favorite that he continued to star in Columbia shorts through 1956. He outlasted every comedian on the Columbia payroll except The Three Stooges.[5]
Andy Clyde also kept busy as a character actor in feature films; for example, he played a sad provincial postman in the Katharine Hepburn film The Little Minister and Charles Coburn's drinking buddy in The Green Years. In the 1940s, he gravitated toward outdoor and western adventures. Clyde is well remembered for his roles as a comic sidekick, usually teaming with William Boyd in the Hopalong Cassidy series (as "California Carlson") or with Whip Wilson in Monogram Pictures' low-budget western movies (as "Winks").[5] Clyde also worked on the Hopalong Cassidy "record readers" issued by Capitol Records in the 1950s.[6]
Clyde's last theatrical film was released in 1956, after which he worked in television, having appeared on Rod Cameron's early syndicated series City Detective. He also had recurring roles on CBS's Lassie and ABC's The Real McCoys. In the latter he was the foil for another veteran character actor, Walter Brennan; Clyde played friendly neighbor "George McMichael" to Brennan's "Grandpa Amos McCoy." Madge Blake played Flora, the sister of George McMichael, on The Real McCoys. As Frank Myers on The Andy Griffith Show (1961), Clyde played Henry Squires in a 1962 Gunsmoke titled Durham Bull. Clyde played an eccentric old man who the town tries to evict. Clyde appeared as "Grandpa", a series regular, on the 1964-1965 ABC military comedy No Time for Sergeants, starring Sammy Jackson. The series was inspired by an earlier Andy Griffith film of the same name.
[edit] Personal life
Clyde married Elsie Maud Tarron, once one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, on 23 September 1932 in Ontario, San Bernadino, California.[4] Jules White recalled that Clyde became a father in middle age, and was devastated when his nine-year-old son John Allan Clyde died.[4]
Clyde continued to perform on television until his death.[5]
Andy Clyde has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
[edit] References
- ^ John Clyde: Scotland's first film star, Helensburgh Heritage. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
- ^ David Clyde: Stage and film actor, Helensburgh Heritage. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
- ^ Jean Clyde: Stage actress, Helensburgh Heritage. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
- ^ a b c Andy Clyde: Film star, Helensburgh Heritage. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
- ^ a b c Okuda, Ted; Watz, Edward; (1986). The Columbia Comedy Shorts, p. 69, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0899501818
- ^ Hall, Roger. "Alan Livingston and The Capitol Record Readers". http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/Hoppy.htm#capitolrecordreaders.
