Larry Blyden

Larry Blyden, born Ivan Lawrence Blieden on June 23, 1925, in Houston, Texas, was an American actor, stage producer, director, and game show host whose Broadway career spanned from 1948 to 1975. The son of Adolph and Marian Blieden, he was raised in the Jewish faith and attended Wharton Elementary School and Sidney Lanier Junior High School in Houston. His childhood neighbor Elmore Torn, who later became known as actor Rip Torn, was a family friend. Blyden's interest in acting developed early, and at age fourteen he made his stage debut in a production directed by Margo Jones. After graduating from Lamar High School, he spent a year at Southwestern Louisiana Institute before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, attaining the rank of second lieutenant. Following his discharge in 1946, he enrolled at the University of Houston, where he worked as an announcer for KPRC radio and performed at the Alley Theatre and the Houston Little Theater. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1948 and relocated to New York City to pursue a professional acting career.

In New York, Blyden continued working in radio while studying at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting for eighteen months. A showcase performance in The Importance of Being Earnest brought him to the attention of director Joshua Logan, who cast him in a small role in the Broadway production of Mister Roberts. He was subsequently elevated to the role of Ensign Pulver and remained with that production until 1951. His second Broadway role was Schmutz in the original production of Wish You Were Here. In 1958, Blyden replaced Larry Storch as Sammy Fong during the out-of-town tryouts for the musical Flower Drum Song, continuing in the role through the show's original Broadway run, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. The production was choreographed by his then-wife, Carol Haney. That same year he appeared in You Can't Take It with You at Expo 58 in Brussels.

Blyden expanded his stage work into directing in November 1962 with the Broadway production of Harold, starring Anthony Perkins and Don Adams, which closed after twenty performances. In February 1967, he replaced Martin Balsam in the Broadway production of You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running. His second directing effort was The Mother Lover, in which he also performed alongside Eileen Heckart and Valerie French; the production opened at the Booth Theatre on February 1, 1969. He also appeared on Broadway in The Apple Tree and Foxy. In March 1972, Blyden both produced and performed in the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, portraying Hysterium opposite Phil Silvers. That performance earned him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also appeared in Sondheim: A Musical Tribute and A Gala Tribute to Joshua Logan.

In 1974, Blyden appeared as Dionysos in The Frogs at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, a musical comedy written by Burt Shevelove, based on Aristophanes, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. His final stage role was Sidney in Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, for which he received both a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play, remaining with the production for 250 performances.

Blyden appeared in three feature films over the course of his career. He made his film debut in a supporting role in the 1957 drama The Bachelor Party, starring Don Murray, and also had supporting parts in Kiss Them for Me that same year and in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 1970. His television work included guest appearances on dramatic anthology programs such as Playhouse 90, Omnibus, The Loretta Young Show, and The United States Steel Hour. He starred opposite Nita Talbot in the CBS sitcom Joe and Mabel, thirteen episodes of which aired during the summer of 1956 before the series was canceled. In 1959, he played Sammy Glick in a two-part NBC Sunday Showcase adaptation of Budd Schulberg's novel What Makes Sammy Run?, alongside John Forsythe, Dina Merrill, and Barbara Rush. He appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone, playing the title character in Showdown with Rance McGrew in February 1962, and also guest-starred on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Defenders, The Fugitive, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. In 1963, he starred as Harry in NBC's Harry's Girls, produced by MGM Television and filmed on location in Europe, though the series was canceled after one season.

Beginning in June 1967, Blyden transitioned into game show hosting with Personality, followed by You're Putting Me On and The Movie Game in 1969. In 1972, he took over as host of the syndicated revival of What's My Line?, a position he held until Goodson-Todman discontinued production on December 12, 1974. He also appeared as a guest panelist on Match Game '74. In the final weeks of his life, Blyden co-hosted the 29th Tony Awards telecast on ABC on April 20, 1975, and on May 2 reprised his role as Ensign Pulver opposite Henry Fonda at a gala tribute to Joshua Logan at Broadway's Imperial Theatre. At the time of his death, he was also attached to host a new game show called Showoffs. Larry Blyden died on June 6, 1975, from injuries sustained in a single-car accident while vacationing in Morocco, eighteen days before what would have been his fiftieth birthday.