Denver Pyle Net Worth – His Biography and Career

Denver Pyle was an American actor and director. He was hugely popular from the 1960s to the 1980s for his various TV roles.

Denver Pyle Net Worth

Denver Pyle has a net worth of around $5 million USD which is mainly from her career in the entertainment industry as an actor, both on the big and small screens, and as a director. He got a star in the Hollywood Hall of Fame in 1997.

Throughout his long and successful career, it is reported that he appeared and directed in a total of 256 films and television shows. Aside from being an actor and a director, Pyle also worked as a set photographer.

He was a drummer in a band before the Second World War. In the war, he served as a United States Merchant Marine.

When the actor was alive, he was also a philanthropist and was known for sponsoring a fishing tournament for a decade which raised funds for various charities.

Personal Life

Denver Pyle was born in Bethune, Colorado on May 11, 1920, to a lower-class family. His parents are Ben H. Pyle, a farmer, and Maude Pyle, a housewife. His brother, Willis, was an animator for the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the United Productions of America (UPA). 

He completed his high school studies and then attended Colorado State University. Shortly after, he dropped out to pursue a career in show business. He moved to Los Angeles, California in 1940.

He was also a drummer in a band before the Second World War where he served in the U.S. Navy. He was discharged in 1942 because he was heavily wounded. After the war, he started to embark on his acting career.

Pyle died on December 25, 1997, due to lung cancer. He died in Burbank, California.

Professional Career

Pyle landed a role in an amateur theater production where he was spotted by a talent scout. He then made his film debut in “The Guilt of Janet Ames” in1947 where he had an uncredited role. In the same year, he got his first credited role as Carl in “Devil Ship.” He also appeared in movies like “Million Dollar Pursuit,” The Flying Saucer,” and “The Old Frontier.”

In 1951, he made his first television appearance in “The Cisco Kid” where he portrayed the character of Professor Jerry Roark in two episodes. Over the course of the decade, he also appeared in various shows like “The Roy Rogers Show,” “Adventures of Superman,” “The Adventures of Kit Carson,” “The CBS Public Defender,” “Crossroads,” and “The Range Rider.”

In 1974, he did some writing and directing for “Sally West.” Moreover, Denver Pyle is well known for the CBS series “The Dukes of Hazzard” from 1979 to 1985 and the TV movie “The Dukes of Hazzard: The Reunion!”  He is also famous for playing the role of Briscoe Darling, Jr. on several episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show.”

In the latter part of his life, he only played minor television roles then he decided to retire from acting full time. 

Denver Pyle Dating History

Denver was married to Betty O’Brian from 1949 to 1957 and they had a son and a daughter. He then married Lucille Martino-Walton in 1957, but they divorced in 1963. Denver married his third wife, Loretta Weston, in 1983. The couple had a son and were married until Pyle died in 1997.

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