Center Square : The Paul Lynde Story

Long before Ellen and Rosie and "Will & Grace," there was Paul Lynde. During his three decades as a popular character actor on TV, film, and stage, this fairy forefather sneaked regular doses of bitchy queer wit into that sacred bastion of intolerance: the American living room. Coauthors Steve Wilson and Joe Florenski draw on candid interviews with friends from Lynde's childhood, college days, and adult years-including stars such as Phyllis Diller, Charlotte Rae, Cloris Leachman, and Peter Marshall-to reveal the life of a Hollywood personality who struggled with alcohol, a taste for love by the hour, and a notoriously volcanic temper. Paul Lynde reaped his share of Hollywood's wealth-as well as its disappointments-and never pretended to be something he wasn't. Book jacket.