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Synopsis

In an age when celebrities have turned the act of coming out into an empowering media event, Paul Lynde certainly seems like a campy relic of less liberated times. This view of Paul as an out-of-step, self-loathing queen of queens overlooks the man's great, if accidental, achievement: Getting away with being flamboyantly gay on TV on an almost daily basis. During his three decades as a popular character actor on television, film and the stage, this fairy forefather's arch and bitchy wit sneaked regular doses of queer humor into that bastion of intolerance, the American living room. Paul showed mainstream viewers that a gay man could deliver the jokes, not just be the butt of them. In doing so, he helped make homosexuality palatable to unwitting viewers who simply saw him as a stylish, funny man. Biographers Steve Wilson and Joe Florenski draw on revealing interviews with firends from Paul's childhood, college days, and adult years -- including such stars as Phyllis Diller, Charlotte Rae, Cloris Leachman, and Peter Marshall, who worked with Paul in Broadway productions and in film and television. What emerges is a memorable portrait of a man who reaped his share of wealth, enjoyed a fair amount of fame, and basked in the adoration of thousands of fans -- but paid a price in hardship, heartbreak and hangovers. Shortly before his death, Paul finally overcame the alcohol addiction that had driven him to truly nasty behaviors. Biographers Wilson and Florenski have also uncovered the true story behind Paul's death, which has been the source of much prurient speculation. Though Paul compromised himself in many ways, he never changed who he was. Paul was a lot of things, but no one could ever accuse him of being a phony.