Duke Slater Is Dead

[toobfreak]

Gomer Pyle's best buddy Duke Slater (Ronnie Schell) has just passed away.

Both Jim Nabors and Frank Sutton (the Sargent) have been gone for a while.

Schell left the Gomer Pyle show for a year to try his hand at his own TV series but it crashed after half a season, so next year, he came back to Gomer.

I was never a big fan of Gomer Pyle, it had its moments, but I thought it worth mentioning. The guy lived to be 94 and died in the hospital of "natural causes" after he fell in his home.

"Natural Causes"--- that is medical/hospital-insurance company terminology for: "The old coot wasn't worth the money to fix at his age and no one will question anyone dying at age 94."

Ronnie Schell, 'Gomer Pyle' best friend and 'slowest rising comedian,' dies at 94

Ronnie Schell, known for his role on the 1960s sitcom “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M

abcnews.com

 

[toobfreak]

Most people wouldn't know this but the outdoor set where they shot most of Gomer Pyle was actually on the northern end of a movie lot where they shot several of Star Trek's outdoor scenes, as well as some of Andy Griffith/Mayberry RFD stuff.

The producers of Gomer Pyle had some deal with the US Marines to shoot stock footage of them marching and stuff of actual marines to use on the show to give it more realism and seem bigger than the cast really was, but along the way, they had a falling out with the Marine department and they cut them off.

 

[LibertyWeeps]

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooolleeeeeee!!!!!!