R.I.P. Lyle Waggoner (Carol Burnett Show/Wonder Woman)

[Dan Roth]

From METV:

Most folks know Lyle Waggoner best as a man of action, Steve Trevor on Wonder Woman. He could do comedy, too. A decade earlier, he was cast as the handsome announcer for The Carol Burnett Show, a role which eventually grew into a full-time comedic ensemble member.

The charming actor had quite the fan following. "He got a card table and a chair and set up an 'office' in the hallway outside the writers' room," Burnett remembered in her 2017 memoir In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox. "He would sit there when he had time and answer the mail." He also got cash through the mail, from selling copies of his pamphlet How to Audition and Get the Job for a dollar.

Before all that, he was nearly Batman.

Two screen tests were filmed to decide on the casting of Batman and Robin for the 1966 camp classic Batman. One, obviously, featured Adam West and Burt Ward. The other starred Lyle Waggoner and Peter R.J. Deyell. While Waggoner would ultimately lose the role to West, he would end up as another prominent DC Comics hero, Steve Trevor.

A year after leaving Carol Burnett, Waggoner began his stint on Wonder Woman, serving as the trusty sidekick to the powerful princess. If he looked good in a uniform, perhaps it was due to his time serving in the U.S. Army in 1950s. He was a radio operator in Germany.

In 1976, the city of Encino, California, named Waggoner it's honorary "mayor," an honor also given to familiar TV faces like Steve Allen, Mike Connors and Ronnie Schell over the years.

As Wonder Woman was ending, Waggoner transitioned to another Hollywood career that fit his name — he founded Star Waggons, a company leasing trailers used for location shooting in the film industry.

According to his family, Waggoner died at his home on the morning of March 17, as reported by TMZ. He was 84.





He doesnt say much in this sketch, but it is hilarious watching him try and not crack up:

[GuitarGeek]

There was a great Golden Girls episode, where Dorothy is dating both Lyle Waggoner and Sonny Bono (both playing, ostensibly, themselves). Eventually, Lyle gets taken into custody by the police in connection with a crime spree in Palm Springs (this was when Sonny was mayor of Palm Springs), which leads Dorothy to choose Sonny, due to the political power. Anyway, the whole thing turns out to be a dream Blanche, I believe it was, was having.

Technically, he played two characters on Wonder Woman. When the show was set in WWII, he played Steve Trevor. Then when they decided they'd worn the wheels off the "super chick foils Nazis" thread, they updated the show to the present (well, present, as of 1978 or whenever it was), and Diana Prince comes back to America to again assist in stopping evil, only this time she was helping Steve Trevor Jr, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his father. When Jr sees Wonder Woman for the first time, he immediately recognizes her from the stories his father had told him he was a child, "But I never thought they were actually true!"
Of course, neither of the Trevors caught on that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman were the same person.

[dropforge]

Bummer. RIP Steve Trevor!

[Jerjo]

He was a helluva straight man and sometimes had a helluva time keeping a straight face what with Korman and Conway improvising. RIP

[spellbound]

Rest in peace, Lyle.

[frinspar]

He had his own funny moments, but, like Jerjo said, he was a great straight man for everyone else on The Carol Burnett Show. And watching him try to keep it together - all of them - is good fun.

My wife and I were in a casino a while back and they had some Wonder Woman slots. When I saw him on it I yelled, "LARRY!" and we played it for a while. About 5 minutes later, though, it hit me his name wasn't Larry, but Lyle. Ever since then, any time we see him (really only on TCBS or WW) one of us will yell "LARRY!"