Denver Pyle Biography

Fast Facts

• Briefly attended Colorado State University after graduating from high school but left when he realized his passion for drumming
• After his stint in the navy, Pyle worked as a riveter at an aircraft plant in L․A․, which is around the time he was introduced to show business after being spotted by a talent scout
• Known primarily for playing roles that portray lazy, slow-speaking Southerners, despite the fact he was born in Colorado
• Best friends with actor James Best from the time they met on the film set for "The Left Handed Gun," until he passed away in 1997
• Pyle's wife Marilee Carpenter was a Twentieth Century Fox production assistant who advised and assisted him through his entire 50-year career in show business, even after their divorce in 1970
• Two weeks before his death he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and despite being frail, attended the ceremony
• Received a medical discharge in 1943 after enlisting in the U․S․ Navy in WWII as a Merchant Marine and getting wounded at the battle for Guadalcanal