Full Name Ed MacMahon Role Film actor Name Paul Gilbert | Years active 1954–1973 Occupation Actor | |
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Spouse Barbara Cowan (m. 1962–1972) Children Melissa Gilbert, Jonathan Gilbert Movies Women of the Prehistori, Cat Ballou, You Can't Run Away from It, 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Sylvia Similar People | ||
Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon; December 27, 1918 – February 13, 1976) was an American film and television actor.
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Biography
Gilbert's family were vaudeville performers, and he began his career as an aerialist, until he had a fall. He continued performing music, dancing and comedy.
He starred in the 1954 series The Duke, as a former boxer who has decided to give up his fighting career to become a respectable night club owner. In the pilot episode, Gilbert sings, dances, juggles, and plays four instruments in the band.
Gilbert played various roles and performed on numerous shows including The Spike Jones Show in 1954. He played the role of murder victim Harrison Boring in the 1964 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Blonde Bonanza." Gilbert also appeared in other early television shows such as The NBC Comedy Hour, The Colgate Comedy Hour (1954–55), Lux Video Theatre. In the 1960s Gilbert was seen on several network television series including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Hollywood Palace, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., Good Morning, World, The Dean Martin Show and Rowan and Martin's Laugh In .
Gilbert and his wife Barbara Crane adopted Melissa Gilbert who played Laura Ingalls Wilder and her brother Jonathan Gilbert who played Willie Oleson on the NBC TV series Little House on the Prairie.
Gilbert was believed to have died suddenly of a stroke on February 13, 1976. In her autobiography, Melissa Gilbert, his daughter and an actress, disclosed that her father ended his own life due to enduring constant pain. He was 57 years old at the time of his passing.
Sara Gilbert (née Sara Rebecca Abeles), who is the daughter of Paul's wife Barbara and her second husband Harold Abeles, took on her current name in 1984, although Sara has no blood relationship with Paul.