Talk:Denver Pyle

balance

i understand this is almost still a stub, and i'm glad somebody put it together, but right now it seems that the guadalcanal controversy, a semi-meaningless blip (IMO), overshadows his accomplishments. would anybody mind if we put that on a back burner, or minimized it somehow until more text is added to offset that subject? SaltyPig 09:09, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

here's the material i removed for now: "Denver Pyle would claim in later life that he was a Navy veteran, who had been wounded in action at Guadalcanal, however the National Personnel Records Center stated in 1991 that there was no evidence that Denver Pyle had ever served on active duty in the United States Navy. Denver Pyle’s statements were not resolved prior to his death, and his exact status of military service remains unclear to this day." SaltyPig 04:10, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

• I have been away from this article for awhile and was sad to see that now the picture is gone and the above info was removed. The info about his military career should be restored. It is verified from NPRC and should be in the article. -Husnock 05:54, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Personal life

Is some of the information mentioned below really necessary? The attempts to expand the article is good, but to state where his grave is, what happened to his presents and the additional facts about his family when the article is about Denver Pyle seems unwarranted/petty/trivial. Just my thoughts, it's really no big deal if it stays or goes. Only an observation mostly. Additionally (and I know I could fix this), his tenure on The Andy Griffith Show is mentioned twice. 69.129.170.102 (talk) 04:35, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Pyle died of lung cancer on Christmas Day 1997. His presents that year were auctioned on Ebay with all proceeds going to charity. He was buried in Forreston, Texas. No marker for his grave is present at the moment, however the family is said to be in planning one. His grave is located directly behind the large grave marker of Johnston family according to the caretaker.

His son, David Pyle is a Master Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy. He resides in Newport Beach, California and is the owner of Los Angeles-area vocational medical career schools, American Career College and West Coast University. He has four children: Henry, Mary Lynn, Annie and Willie.

His other son Tony Pyle also resides in Orange County California and is owner of a very successful corporate transportation company and an aspiring talent himself with writing, voice over work and artist.

U.S. Navy

His obituary states he was in the U.S. Navy and he is listed in the U.S. Military BIRLS Death File. He WAS in the Navy.

The "Index Record for Denver Pyle (1920) Veterans Affairs Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem Death File", in the Fold3 by Ancestry.com website has limited info as follows: Full Name: Denver Pyle, Birth Date: 11 May 1920, Death Date: 25 Dec 1997, Cause of Death: Unknown Conflict Period: Other Service, Served for: United States of America. I could not find any "WWII Navy Muster Rolls" in Fold3 listing Denver Pyle.

In a keyword search with "Denver Pyle" "navy" with dates 1941 - 1950 in Newspapers.com produced no mentions that I could find that Denver Pyle served in the navy. Same with "Denver Pyle" "merchant marine".

In the article "Everybody's Seen Ol' Denver Pyle" by Emery Wister in The Charlotte News Green Section on February 1, 1969, page 1C, it says, "I was a Navy cadet in the war," he recalled. 'Funny, I was classified 4-F. So the next day I went down and passed the Navy test.' The article also said, "Pyle was on a training ship and described the two years as 'the longest training cruise in history.' The Navy finally gave him a medical discharge."

In the article "A Coloradan from Bethune" by Clason Kyle in the Sunday Ledger-Enquirer Magazine on October 5, 1969, page 14, it says, "–before enlisting in the Navy, 'I was wounded in action off Guadalcanal, and received a medical discharge in 1942,' he said".

Merchant Marines

There are no reliable sources found as of yet that state he was in a war zone while a Merchant Marine or had a role in the war while in the Merchant Marines. More specifically, the sources do not establish defining role in World War II while serving in the Merchant Marines. Accordingly, "Category:United States Merchant Mariners of World War II" is removed until a defining role is established.

Semper fi! FieldMarine (talk) 12:25, 3 December 2022 (UTC)

Pyle's role in "The Alamo"....

The article stated that Pyle's character in John Wayne's "The Alamo" was called "the Gambler." Actually, the character's name was "Thimblerig." A thimble-rigger was someone who ran a con game using thimbles - similar to the "shell game."76.4.66.18 (talk) 21:23, 16 November 2010 (UTC) Denver Pyle also played a role in the 1965 movie, "The Rounders", with Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.169.197.222 (talk) 15:35, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

tv guest star

mr pyle also did several Have gun will travel episodes — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.12.89.55 (talk) 06:36, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Denver Pyle played a mayor in kung fu not a judge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Metalhead1972 (talk • contribs) 22:50, 28 January 2017 (UTC)

Bogus wife removal

I removed the following three apparently bogus (?) wives from "Personal life" section and replaced them with his two actual wives cited in 1997 NY Times obituary and Marilee Carpenter Pyle's 2010 LA Times obit.

Denver married his first wife Betty O'Brian (1919–1987) on July 4, 1942. They had a son David Matthew Pyle (born September 16, 1945) and a daughter Margaret Maude Catalano (née Pyle; born March 1949). Denver and Betty divorced on January 9, 1957.

Denver married his second wife Lucille Martino (1916–1986) on December 11, 1957. Denver had two stepsons via this marriage. Denver and Lucille divorced on July 27, 1963.

Denver married his third wife Loretta Weston (1958-) on September 5, 1983. They had one son Triston Jackson Pyle (born June 1986). They were married until Pyle's death.

-- Boyajian (talk) 21:27, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Denver Pyle

I believe there was also a cartoon that he did a voice over for in the 80's when he played a large dog looking after some puppies, but I do not remember the name of it. I remember him saying "Hold on pup I'm a comin'" when he went to save them — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:C440:390:C112:DA4A:5D89:F818 (talk) 15:44, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Denver Pyle

He was one of the bad guys on hoppalong Cassidy first aired Jan 29 1954 . Shown recently as season 2 episode 17 of the hoppy tv show . 2601:18A:C400:5FC0:418D:EAAA:9CB0:220E (talk) 06:09, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Almost no info on Uncle Jesse role

his most famous role was Uncle Jesse on The dukes of Hazzard, yet there's only one sentence about that in the main article. 71.176.222.55 (talk) 14:38, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

Missed appearance on Gunsmoke

Denver Pyle appeared in season 9 episode 20 as “Pa” l, a mean father of some backwoods hillbilly boys that start lots of trouble. 2603:7081:3F:81CC:783B:E172:4893:6B9D (talk) 20:21, 17 September 2024 (UTC)