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ABOUT
A.C.
LYLES
•••At
an early age
Lyles had
already decided
he wanted to be
a Hollywood
producer. On
his ninth
birthday Lyles
got a job at
the Florida
Theater, part
of the
Paramount-Publix
chain, in his
native
Jacksonville.
•••While
working at the
theater Lyles
interviewed
visiting
celebrities for
the
Jacksonville
Journal, and
there he met a
visiting Adolph
Zukor, the
founder and
head of
Paramount.
Zukor told the
fourteen year
old to complete
high school and
" keep in
touch". To
Lyles, "
keeping in
touch" meant
just that and
he wrote to
Zukor each
Sunday for the
next four
years. Keeping
in touch paid
off and after
graduation from
Andrew Jackson
High School in
1937, Lyles
made his way to
Hollywood where
Adolph,
remembering
Lyles' letters,
got him a job
in the
mail-room.
•••At
the end of the
two weeks,
Lyles' newly
acquired
friends at
Paramount,
including Bing
Crosby, Gary
Cooper, Dorothy
Lamour, Bob
Hope and others
who asked Zukor
to keep Lyles
on. Adolph
Zukor took a
personal
interest in
Lyles and, when
he transferred
to the New York
office, Zukor
introduced the
young man to Y.
Frank Freeman,
the new studio
boss. By this
time Lyles and
Zukor had
become close
friends, a
friendship that
lasted until
Zukor died at
the age of
103.
•••Freeman
promoted Lyles
to the
publicity
department, and
a short time
later, named
Lyles, at age
nineteen, a
director of
publicity.
During the next
dozen years,
Lyles worked on
more than
seventy
features. In
1954 Lyles was
promoted to
associate
producer on "
The Mountain",
starring
Spencer Tracy.
Lyles then
attained his
first full
producer status
when he and his
close friend,
the late James
Cagney, teamed
on " Short Cut
to Hell".
•••In
1955 Lyles
married his
wife Martha at
the Little
Brown Church in
the valley,
with their
longtime
friends, the
James Cagneys
and the Ronald
Reagans, in
attendance. It
is the same
place where the
Reagans had
been married
three years
earlier.
•••In
1956, Lyles
formed his own
production unit
at Paramount,
producing many
features and
television
programs for
the studio. He
holds the
record for the
largest number
of motion
pictures
ordered from a
producer in a
single
contract: a
minimum of ten
features in
twenty-four
months.
Paramount also
around this
time ' loaned'
Lyles to CBS
for the series
" Rawhide" as
associate
producer. The
television show
made Clint
Eastwood a star
and made him
and Lyles good
friends. During
the sixties,
Lyles produced
scores of
successful
westerns that
became a staple
for Paramount.
In the eighties
he produced an
NBC primetime
series " Here's
Boomer" that
ran for many
years. His
other
productions
have include
theatrical and
television
features,
including "
Conversations
With The
Presidents," an
hour long
primetime
special for ABC
in which groups
of children
interviewed
Presidents
Gerald Ford,
Jimmy Carter,
and Ronald
Reagan.
•••Lyles
old friend
Ronald Reagan
commissioned
Lyles to the
President' s
Advisory
Council on
Private Sector
Initiatives in
1983. In
January, 1986,
Lyles was sworn
onto the
Presidential
Board of
Advisors on
Private Sector
Initiatives. He
regularly
attended White
House meetings
with President
Reagan and his
staff and
attend
conferences
overseas.
During the
Reagan and Bush
administrations,
he also
functioned as
Hollywood
liaison,
getting
celebrities to
entertain at
the White House
and other
presidential
functions. In
1984, Lyles
received the
George
Washington
Award of the
Freedoms
Foundation,
presented to
him in the Oval
Office by
President
Ronald
Reagan.
•••Over
his lifetime
Lyles has
received a
plethora of
awards. In
1969, he and
his friend John
Wayne were each
presented with
the famous
Golden Spurs
award; Duke,
for being the
most popular
western star,
and Lyles for
keeping alive
the spirit and
tradition of
the Old West in
his movies. "
Duke and I' ve
been very fond
of A.C. ever
since he was a
mailboy at this
studio,"
Barbara
Stanwyck said
at the awards
ceremony. "And
he' s fulfilled
what we all
expected of
him," Wayne
added.
•••In
honor of his
long
association and
his outstanding
contribution to
the motion
picture
industry, Lyles
received a star
on the
Hollywood Walk
of Fame in 1988
in front of the
El Capitan
Theater. At the
same time,
Paramount named
a building on
the lot after
him. Lyles is
also a member
of the Academy
of Motion
Picture Arts
& Sciences,
the Academy of
Television Arts
& Sciences,
the Producers
Guild of
America, the
Writers Guild
of America and
a founding
member of the
Publicists
Guild. He
served on the
Executive
Committee for
Paramount' s
75th and 80th
anniversaries
and Hollywood'
s
Centennial.
•••Currently
Lyles
represents
Paramount and
Hollywood all
over the
country,
speaking at
colleges, film
festivals and
industry
functions. He
is a frequent
on-camera
contributor to
documentaries
about the
entertainment
business. The
American Movie
Classics
channel has a
documentary
airing about
him titled
Paramount' s
Ambassador of
Good Will. A.C.
and Martha
Lyles live in
an Early
American home
on a Bel Air
hilltop
overlooking Los
Angeles.
02.
TIMELINE
/
A.C. Lyles (b.
May 17, 1918 in
Jacksonville,
Florida) is a
movie producer
for Paramount
Pictures who
produced
westerns in the
1950s and
1960s, and has
been a major
player in
Hollywood for
the past 78
years.
•
•
The
school A.C.
Lyles (b. May
17, 1918 in
Jacksonville,
Florida) is a
movie producer
for Paramount
Pictures who
produced
westerns in the
1950s and
1960s, and has
been a major
player in
Hollywood for
the past 78
years.[1]
•••••Early
Years
•••••Lyles
remembers
seeing the film
Wings on his
10th birthday
at a theater
owned by
Paramount in
his native
Jacksonville,
FL. "I just
fell in love
with the
picture and the
people who made
it. I had a
great
admiration for
Adolph Zukor
[the movie
mogul who
founded and ran
the
studio]."
Lyles quickly
went to the
theater
manager, asked
for a job, and
began
distributing
bumper stickers
and handbills,
working his way
up to usher in
three
months.
•••Working
at the theater
created an
opportunity to
meet Zukor
himself four
years later
when the studio
head came to
visit the
theater. Lyles
says he was
certain that
his brief
introduction to
Zukor as an
adolescent
would
ultimately lead
to working at
the studio in
Hollywood.
Zukor told
Lyles to finish
high school
before pursuing
his Hollywood
dreams. Having
already gotten
a job at a
Paramount
theater, the
young Lyles was
determined to
work at the
actual
Paramount
studios that he
began writing
letters to
Zukor every
week.
•••Fate
also intervened
when Lyles
introduced
himself to Gary
Cooper when the
star came to
Jacksonville on
his way to
Miami. Lyles
told him about
his weekly
letters,
although he
hadn't yet
received any
response. The
star gave the
boy a note to
include in his
next letter: "I
am looking
forward to A.C.
Lyles being
with us at the
studio."[citation
needed]
That led to a
response from
Zukor's
secretary, and
Lyles began
writing letters
to her as
well.
•••Paramount
•••This
section does
not cite any
references or
sources.
•••Please
help improve
this article by
adding
citations to
reliable
sources.
Unverifiable
material may be
challenged and
removed. (July
2007)
•••After
graduating from
high school,
Lyles traveled
across country
with $28 in his
pocket to
pursue his
dream of
working at
Paramount. When
he arrived in
Hollywood,
Lyles found
that his
persistence had
paid off; Zukor
hired Lyles as
an office boy
making $15 per
week. Lyles
quickly began
making friends
with as many
people as
possible on the
lot, including
Bing Crosby and
Cooper.
•••One
of Lyles new
friends was
James Cagney's
sister, who had
a contract with
Paramount at
the time. She
told Lyles that
Cagney wanted
to meet him,
and, after
getting over
the initial
shock of being
asked to meet
the superstar,
Lyles became
friends with
Cagney. Lyles
would soon meet
someone who
would
ultimately
become bigger
than Cagney.
"There's a
young fellow in
town I want you
to meet. You'll
be
inseparable,"
Lyles remembers
Cagney telling
him.[citation
needed] The
young fellow
turned out to
be Ronald
Reagan, who
would become
one of Lyles's
best friends.
"We were so
close. We were
like brothers,"
he
says.[citation
needed]
•••Please
help improve
this article by
adding
citations to
reliable
sources.
Unverifiable
material may be
challenged and
removed. (July
2007)
•••Lyles
was headed for
success; at age
19 he became a
publicity
director and
over the next
decade he
worked on more
than 70 films.
In 1954 he was
associate
producer on The
Mountain, which
starred Spencer
Tracy, and in
1957 he became
a full producer
on Short Cut to
Hell, starring
Cagney. It was
also in the 50s
that Lyles
married his
wife, Martha.
He also served
as associate
producer on the
TV series
Rawhide, which
gave Clint
Eastwood his
breakthrough
role. Lyles
found a niche
producing
Westerns, many
of them in the
1960's, and
recently he
worked as a
consultant on
HBOs Deadwood,
created by
David Milch
(NYPD Blue),
whom Lyles said
"is as close to
being a genius
as anyone I
know....If you
listen to his
dialogue, it's
like
Shakespeare."[citation
needed]
•••Lyles
has a star on
the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in
front of the El
Capitan Theatre
and a building
named in his
honor at
Paramount
Studios.
03
/
•
"THE
PRODUCER: A.C.
LYLES - BY
CHRISTOPHER
LISOTTA
LA Weekly says
http://www.laweekly.com/news/features/the-producer-ac-lyles/8056/
•••Thursday,
October 6, 2005
- 12:00
am
•••"It's
a short
resumé,
1928 to 2005;
Paramount,"
says A.C.
Lyles, whose
current title,
"producer,"
doesn't begin
to capture his
relationship
with the little
film studio on
Melrose.
••••For
77 years, Lyles
has been the
quintessential
company man, so
much so that
when Brad Grey
took the reins
of the company
earlier this
summer he asked
Lyles to
introduce him
to the
troops.
••••"He's
done well since
he's been
here," Lyles
says, noting
Grey is the
10th studio
chief he's
lived through.
"He's made
seven or eight
major additions
to our talent
here for our
picture
making."
•••As
a child in
Jacksonville,
Lyles handed
out handbills
for Paramount's
Florida
Theater, before
charming his
way up to page.
So excited by
his new gig, he
wrote his boss,
Paramount's
founder Adolph
Zukor, who
eventually
visited
Florida, where
he told the
youth to "keep
in touch."
Lyles took that
to mean writing
Zukor every
Sunday for the
next four
years. When
Zukor's
secretary told
Lyles that
letters every
two months
would be fine,
he kept up the
weekly letters
and added the
secretary to
his
correspondence
list.
•••Lyles'
first trip to
Hollywood was,
ironically, on
assignment for
a Jacksonville
newspaper to
cover a 20th
Century Fox
star, Shirley
Temple, with
whom he remains
friends to this
day. Despite a
meeting with
Fox's Darryl
Zanuck
initiated by
Walter
Winchell, Lyles
went over to
the Paramount
lot, scoring a
mailroom job
and, at 19, was
tapped to run
the studio's
publicity
department.
•••"I've
seen a lot of
people come on
the lot getting
$100 a week,"
Lyles says,
referring to
actors like
William Holden,
Susan Hayward
and Alan
Ladd.
•••Today,
making pictures
is a much more
difficult
process than it
was back then,
Lyles
says.•••
•Continued
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