Andy Clyde
Andy Clyde | |
|---|---|
| File:Lassie Cully 101.JPG Clyde as Cully Wilson, an eccentric farmer and nature lover in the Lassie television series | |
| Born | Andrew Allan Clyde March 25, 1892 |
| Died | May 18, 1967 (aged 75) |
| 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 came from a family that had been prominently identified with the theatre for generations; his brother David Clyde and sister Jean Clyde also became screen actors.
Career
Andy Clyde's mastery of makeup allowed him tremendous versatility; he could play everything from grubby young guttersnipes to old crackpot scientists. Clyde 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 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, e.g. You Were Never Uglier. 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. 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.[1]
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").[1] Clyde also worked on the Hopalong Cassidy "record readers" issued by Capitol Records in the 1950s.[2]
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." As Frank Myers on The Andy Griffith show (1961), 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.
Personal life
Clyde was married to a former Mack Sennett bathing beauty, Elsie Tarron. Jules White recalled that Clyde became a father in middle age and was devastated when his nine-year-old son died.
Clyde continued to perform on television until his death.[1]
Andy Clyde has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
References
- ^ 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".