Gomer Pyle

Background:

“I think this story sums up my career the best. One time I was walking in an airport somewhere and I saw this woman with her young son. The son looked up at me and it was obvious that he recognized me. He thought for a second and he said 'Mom, there goes an old Gomer!'” Jim Nabors

An American actor, singer, and comedian who began his career as a film cutter for NBC, Jim Nabors is most known to television audience for playing the sympathetic but naive gas attendant, Gomer Pyle, on two massively successful 1960s sitcoms, “The Andy Griffith Show” (1962-1964) and its spin-off “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” (1964-1969). His long and triumphant portrayal of Gomer Pyle earned the actor a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and a Legend Award from the 2004 TV Land Awards, sharing with Andy Griffith. Nabors was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his tenure on his variety show, “The Jim Nabors Hour” (1969-1971). The multi-talented performer also has acted in movies for the big screen and television, performed in stage productions and countless concerts, as well as recorded a number of albums.

On the personal front, Nabors never married, and was never spotted having any romantic life. As a result, he found himself the target of many despicable and baseless rumors concerning his private life. In the early 1970s, he was spaciously whispered to be “secretly married” to Rock Hudson, but strongly denied the rumors and cited Hudson was anything more than a friend. When he had a serious illness in the mid-1980s due to hepatitis, he was reported to have contracted AIDS. More recently, in 2000, Nabors' spokesman stated that the star is not homosexual, but in a 2005 article about gay stars inthe St Petersburg Times, Nabors was mentioned as gay along side such big names as Robert Reed, Paul Lynde, and Charles Nelson Reilly. Nabors has verbalized no protest to the Times article.

Asthmatic

Childhood and Family:

James Thurston Nabors, who would later be more popular as Jim Nabors, was born on June 12, 1930, in Sylacauga, Alabama, to Fred Nabors, a policeman, and Mavis Pearl Newman. He attended Sylacauga High School, where he began singing at the school's glee club and church choir, and then received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Alabama. While in college, he also became a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Jim suffers from asthma since he was a child.

The Jim Nabors Hour

Career:

A native of Alabama, Jim Nabors got his first acting experience while still in college, when, as a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, he performed at the Jason's Jamboree, a Greek skit show. Upon graduation, he relocated to New York and found work as a typist for the United Nations. He made his return to the south after a year and worked as a movie cutter in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Due to health problem, he decided to move west to Los Angeles and got a job as an apprentice film cutter at NBC. During this time, he spent nights performing at The Horn in Santa Monica, a cabaret theater whose intimate ambiance was bent toward the displaying of fresh talent. Thanks to his hillbilly skits and operatic singing, Nabors eventually snagged his first TV gig on the comedy series “The Steve Allen Show” (1961), where he became a regular performer for a season.

After leaving the show, Nabors tried his luck in San Fransisco, where he performed with The Purple Onion, another showcase for new endowment, but decided to move back to Los Angeles after only six months. It was while performing in live venues that Nabors was spotted by Andy Griffith, who then invited him to audition for the TV sitcom “The Andy Griffith Show.” Nabors eventually won the role of Gomer Pyle, a maladroit good-natured gas station attendant, and the rest, as they say, is a history. Debuting in 1962, his part soon became an audience favorite, and by 1964 it had been spun off into a new series called “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” which ran on CBS until 1969.

Following the big success of “Gomer Pyle,U.S.M.C.,” Nabors got the opportunity to headline his own weekly variety series, “The Jim Nabors Hour,” where viewers could catch Nabors singing Broadway and classical tunes. Premiered on CBS-TV in the fall of 1969, the show, however, did not stay very long and it was axed from the network in the spring of 1971 because of cuts in the programming. Despite having a short life, it did nab Nabors a Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Actor-Musical/Comedy in 1970.

Nabors returned to series TV for the 1975-1976 science fiction series “The Lost Saucers,” where he was paired with Ruth Buzzi to portray a couple of stupid alien robots who kidnapped two innocent kids, and in “Krofft Supershow” (1976) as well as “Buford and the Galloping Ghost” (1979, voice only). A well-liked guest on variety shows during the 1960s to 1970s, he became a darling at “The Carol Burnett Show” (9 episodes, 1967-1975) and “The Muppet Show” (1 episode, 1976). Carol Burnett even regarded Nabors her golden charm, and he was always the first guest on each new season of her show.

Nabors continued to make guest appearances like playing Wayne Bouton, the vale in two episode of The Aaron Spelling-produced comedy “The Love Boat” (1981), and acted in a number of movies during the 1980s, including 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1983's Stroker Ace, from which he won a Razzie for his scene-stealing role of the mechanic of the titular character, 1984's The Cannonball Run II, all of which starring his close friend Burt Reynolds. In 1986, he made his television film acting debut with a small part in Return to Mayberry, which is still one of the highest rated TV movies in history, and the project reunited Nabors with many of the original members of the cast of “The Andy Griffith Show” that included Andy Griffith himself, Ron Howard, Don Knotts, Betty Lynn, and others.

In 1994, Nabors' career had a setback when, after years of serious ill health, he had to undergo a liver transplant. After recovering, he resumed his singing career. As a successful recording artist, Nabors has produced twenty eight albums and countless singles. He has scored five golds and a platinum record.

Now a resident of Hawaii, where he owns a macadamia nut farm, Nabors starred in “A Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors,” a live program at the Hawaii Theater Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, from 1997 to 2006. Produced Burton White, Nabors totally dedicated his time and gifts in the production which featured, during its run, local and national artists such as Emma Veary, Jimmy Borges, Karen Keawehawaii, Frank Delima, Philip Huber & the Huber Marionettes, the Diamond Head Theatre Shooting Stars, Halau Hula O Kawailiula, Hula Hui O Nuuanu YMCA, the Company Singers, and the Hawaii Theatre Orchestra and Honolulu Symphony under the truncheon of Matt Catingub. The show ran forty performances over a decade and was under the direction of Tom Hansen until his death in 2006. John Rampage directed the final final performance run in 2006 and it was dedicated to Hansen.

In addition to his TV and recording careers, Nabors is also known for his personal appearance all over the world, including at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Las Vegas Hilton. He also has performed in the the spectacular “Hello Hollywood Hello” at Bally's in Reno and at Harrah's in Reno, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City.

Awards:

• TV Land: Legend Award, “The Andy Griffith Show, “ 2004 (shared with Andy Griffith, among others)

• Razzie: Worst Supporting Actor, Stroker Ace, 1984