Louis Nye

{{Infobox person

| name = Louis Nye

| image = Louis Nye 1966.JPG

| caption = Nye in 1966

| birth_name = Louis Neistat

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|5|1|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Hartford, Connecticut, US

| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|10|9|1913|5|1|mf=y}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, US

| spouse = Anita Leonard

| children = 1

| relatives = Casey Neistat (great-nephew), Van Neistat (great-nephew){{YouTube|id=HgYVuXaihNs|time=44s}}

| restingplace = Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California

| occupation = Actor

| yearsactive = 1950–2005

}}

Louis Nye (May 1, 1913 – October 9, 2005) was an American comedic actor.{{cite news| work=The New York Times| title=Louis Nye, 92, Comic Actor and Sidekick to Steve Allen, Dies| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/11/arts/television/louis-nye-92-comic-actor-and-sidekick-to-steve-allen-dies.html| date=October 11, 2005| first=James| last=Barron| accessdate=November 14, 2014}} He was an entertainer to the troops during World War II and is best known for his work on multiple television, film and radio programs.

Radio and television

Nye met Carl Reiner, returned to New York and began working in live television. He also appeared in several plays on Broadway, and made many appearances on television variety shows such as The Jack Benny Program (including one memorable turn as a crying cab driver), The Jimmy Durante Show, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and The Victor Borge Show.

He earned his greatest fame as a regular on The Steve Allen Show, performing with Allen, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Pat Harrington Jr., Dayton Allen, Gabriel Dell and Bill Dana. He primarily played urbane, wealthy, and often fey bon vivants; as part of the weekly "Man on the Street" sketches, his characterization of the pretentious country-club braggart Gordon Hathaway, with his catchphrase, "Hi-ho, Steverino," plus Allen's inability to resist bursting into hysterical laughter at his ad-libs, made Nye one of the favorites on Allen's show. When production moved to Los Angeles, Nye went too and became a character actor in Hollywood.

Nye was cast as a guest star on many television series, including Make Room for Daddy; Guestward, Ho!; Burke's Law; The Munsters; Love, American Style; Laverne & Shirley; Starsky and Hutch; Police Woman; Fantasy Island; St. Elsewhere; and The Cosby Show.

Nye played dentist Delbert Gray on several episodes of The Ann Sothern Show from 1960 to 1961, the romantic interest of Olive Smith, played by Ann Tyrrell (1909–1983). Nye also played Sonny Drysdale, the spoiled rich stepson of Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies during the 1962 season. He did six episodes, and received more mail than from anything else he had ever done on television, but the character was dropped. It was rumored that someone in the CBS network, or a sponsor, thought Sonny was too "sissified". However, Nye revived the character briefly during the 1966 season.

During this period, Nye appeared in several television commercials for various products, including Rath brand lunch meats and the Better Business Bureau.

File:Needles and Pins cast 1973.JPG. Top, from left: Bernie Kopell, Sandra Deel and Nye.]]Nye was a member of the cast of Needles and Pins, playing Harry Karp. The sitcom, which starred Norman Fell, ran for 14 episodes in the autumn of 1973.

Nye appeared as a celebrity judge on The Gong Show during the late 1970s. He also recorded a few comedy LPs, doing a variety of characterizations. Unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to reach his potential in movies. Many of his character roles were little more than cameos. Nevertheless, he performed with Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, Dean Martin, Walter Matthau, Robert Mitchum, Jack Webb and Joanne Woodward, and others. Nye also appeared on the lecture circuit, in concerts and in nightclubs, and did voice work in animation, such as Inspector Gadget with Don Adams.

Last years

Nye never retired. He completed a 24-city tour of the country for Columbia Artists, ending the tour with a two-week stint at the Sahara in Las Vegas.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}} At age 92, he continued to work, appearing in his recurring role of Jeff Greene's father on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2005.

Nye lived in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife, pianist-songwriter Anita Leonard, who wrote the standard, "A Sunday Kind of Love." Married since the late 1940s, they had a son, artist Peter Nye. Nye was also the great uncle of filmmakers Casey Neistat, Van Neistat and stuntman Dean Neistat.{{Cite AV media |title=my brother Van |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgYVuXaihNs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/HgYVuXaihNs |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|work=CaseyNeistat |via=YouTube |language=en |date=March 9, 2021 |access-date=March 10, 2021}}{{cbignore}}

Nye died of lung cancer October 9, 2005 and was cremated. His ashes are interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.{{cite book| title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-DgDAAAQBAJ| page=555| last=Wilson| first=Scott| date=August 19, 2016| publisher=McFarland| location=Jefferson, NC| edition=3d| isbn=978-1-4766-2599-7| access-date=September 30, 2023}}

Selected Filmography

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable"
rowspan=2 \| 1960	Sex Kittens Go to College	Dr. Zorch
The Facts of Life	Hamilton Busbee
1961	The Last Time I Saw Archie	Private Sam Beacham
rowspan=3 \| 1962	Zotz!	Hugh Fundy
Beverly Hillbillies	Sonny Drysdale	4 episodes
The Munsters	Zombo
rowspan=3 \| 1963	The Stripper	Ronnie
The Wheeler Dealers	Stanislaus
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?	Harry Tobler
1964	Good Neighbor Sam	Det. Reinhold Shiffner
1967	A Guide for the Married Man	Irving
1976	Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood	Radio Announcer
1977	Charge of the Model T's	Friedrich Schmidt
1978	Harper Valley PTA	Kirby Baker
rowspan=2 \| 1981	Full Moon High	Minister
The Reluctant Dragon	St. George
1984	Cannonball Run II	Fisherman #3
rowspan=2 \| 1987	O.C. and Stiggs	Garth Sloan
The Cosby Show	Norman Kirby