1. Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor and director.
48 Facts About Denver Pyle
1. 2.
Denver Pyle was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985, as Mad Jack in the NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and as the titular character's father, Buck Webb, in CBS's The Doris Day Show.
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Denver Pyle's brother, Willis, was an animator known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios and UPA.
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Denver Pyle worked as a drummer and band member until the United States entered World War II.
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Denver Pyle played many bit parts on television series and movies before starring in several movies and on television during the 1950s and '60s.
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Denver Pyle appeared in "Frontier Range", a 1951 episode of The Gene Autry Show.
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In 1953, Denver Pyle appeared on The Roy Rogers Show as the wrongly accused killer, ranch hand Tom Larrabee.
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Also in 1953, Denver Pyle played Emil Hatch in episode 46 of The Adventures of Superman entitled "Beware the Wrecker".
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Denver Pyle was twice cast on CBS's The Public Defender in the role of George Hansen, and three times on the religious anthology series, Crossroads on ABC.
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Denver Pyle acted the part of a police detective in the 1956 film noir Please Murder Me, starring Raymond Burr.
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Denver Pyle was cast as Carter in the 1955 episode "Joey's Father" on Fury.
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In 1956, Denver Pyle appeared as Vance Kiley in the episode called "Quicksand" in the TV Western series The Lone Ranger.
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Denver Pyle appeared as a professor in the syndicated Men into Space series' 1959 episode "Moonquake".
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Denver Pyle appeared twice each on the CBS Western series My Friend Flicka and NBC's The Restless Gun with John Payne.
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Denver Pyle guest-starred with Grant Withers in the 1959 episode "Tumbleweed Ranger" of Tris Coffin's syndicated Western series 26 Men, billed as true stories of the Arizona Rangers.
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Denver Pyle guest-starred in 1960 in several other Westerns, including Pony Express, The Man from Blackhawk, and Tombstone Territory.
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Denver Pyle was cast as Big Red in the 1959 episode "Woman in the River" of the detective series Bourbon Street Beat, starring Andrew Duggan and Richard Long.
18.
Denver Pyle made several appearances as Briscoe Darling, on The Andy Griffith Show.
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Denver Pyle was cast in a number of Western movies by John Ford, including The Horse Soldiers with William Holden and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
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Denver Pyle played a Tennessee soldier in John Wayne's The Alamo.
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Denver Pyle portrayed Sam Houston in several episodes of CBS's The Adventures of Jim Bowie.
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Denver Pyle guest-starred as a law-enforcement officer in Jim Davis' other syndicated series, Rescue 8, and appeared in an episode of the ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys with Walter Brennan.
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Denver Pyle was cast in the 1960 episode "Three Wise Men" of ABC's Stagecoach West as an outlaw who promises to turn himself into the authorities if he can spend Christmas with his family.
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About this time, Denver Pyle appeared in the segment "Lawyer in Petticoats" of William Bendix's 1960 NBC Western series Overland Trail with Doug McClure, and thereafter in 1961 in "Hand of Vengeance" in the syndicated Western series Two Faces West.
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Denver Pyle was cast as Jed Corrigan in the 1961 episode "The Tramp" of the NBC family drama series National Velvet.
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Denver Pyle guest-starred twice on the CBS series Route 66 with Martin Milner and George Maharis, first in 1961 in the episode "The Newborn" and again in 1962 in "A Long Piece of Mischief".
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Denver Pyle appeared as the father of the doomed family in the dystopian episode "Black Leather Jackets" of The Twilight Zone.
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Denver Pyle played Sergeant Tripp in the episode "The Enemy" of the James Arness ABC series How the West Was Won.
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Denver Pyle is known for portraying both the suspect and the murder victim on the last original Perry Mason TV episode, "The Case of the Final Fadeout", in 1966.
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Denver Pyle was one of 11 actors to hit the Perry Mason trifecta, portraying a victim, a defendant, and the actual murderer on the series, which he did in five appearances.
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Denver Pyle portrayed the vengeful Texas Ranger Frank Hamer in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde.
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Denver Pyle appeared in an episode of The High Chaparral as a general who had lost his son.
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Denver Pyle had a guest-starring role in 1973 on The Streets of San Francisco.
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Denver Pyle appeared in second-season episode "Crossties" as a doctor.
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In 1985, Denver Pyle made a guest appearance on The Love Boat.
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Denver Pyle played the titular role in a theatrical film entitled Guardian of the Wilderness about Galen Clark, the true story of an explorer who persuaded Abraham Lincoln to have the Yosemite area set aside from commercial development, the original forerunner of the American national parks system.
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Denver Pyle was the top-billed lead in this theatrical motion picture shot on location.
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Denver Pyle played the patriarch of the Darling family, a group of sons, and one daughter, Charlene, portrayed by Maggie Peterson.
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Denver Pyle appeared in seven episodes, six written by the comedy-writing team of Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum.
40.
Denver Pyle played the role of Mad Jack in 36 episodes of the NBC series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.
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Denver Pyle played Buck Webb during the first two seasons of CBS's The Doris Day Show.
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In real life, Denver Pyle was only two years older than Day.
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Denver Pyle said in 1968 that he based his acting in that role on his father's personality.
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Denver Pyle has a star in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7083 Hollywood Boulevard.
45.
In 1955, Denver Pyle married Marilee Carpenter, a production assistant at 20th Century Fox.
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On November 5,1983, Pyle married Tippie X Johnston in Los Angeles County, California.
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Denver Pyle is buried in an unmarked grave at the Forreston Cemetery in Forreston, Texas.
48.
Denver Pyle's remains are interred beside those of his second wife's parents, James Thomas Johnston and Erin Maurine Johnston.