Peter Lind Hayes (born Joseph Conrad Lind Jr.; June 25, 1915 – April 21, 1998) was an American

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

entertainer, songwriter, and film and television actor.

Early life

Hayes was born in San Francisco, the son of Joseph Conrad Lind Sr., a railroad man and amateur singer, and vaudeville entertainer Grace Hayes (1895–1989). Joseph Lind Sr. died when his son was two years old. Hayes attended parochial school in Cairo, Illinois, during his early childhood before moving to the New York City suburb of New Rochelle and continuing his education there.

Career

Hayes made his vaudeville debut with his mother at the age of six. In 1939, his mother sold some jewelry and borrowed $8,000 to open the Grace Hayes Lodge in Los Angeles, where he began working as a nightclub performer. He appeared in films throughout the 1930s and 1940s and had a significant television career in the 1950s. He often appeared with his wife Mary Healy. During World War II Hayes enlisted in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and appeared in both the

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

of ''Winged Victory''. In 1946, Hayes opened at the Copacabana in New York. This led to an engagement with the

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

radio show. Hayes and Healy were the original singers of the

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

jingle " See The U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet" in 1950. (Dinah Shore later sang the song for Chevrolet starting in 1952.) The couple starred in ''

Zis Boom Bah ''Zis Boom Bah'', also known as ''College Sweethearts'', is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by William Nigh, and starring Grace Hayes, Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy. The plot concerns a vaudeville singer who comes to a flounderin ...

'' (1941) along with Grace Hayes and were top-billed in the cult fantasy musical film '' The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.'' (1953). He also had a considerable reputation as a singer of comic songs, several of which made their way onto record, including "Life Gets Tee-Jus, Don't It". Hayes may best be remembered for being designated substitute for

Arthur Godfrey Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...

on both his CBS-TV and radio programs as well as several short-lived television series in which he and Healy co-hosted or co-starred, such as The Peter Lind Hayes Show (1950–51), ''

Star of the Family ''Star of the Family'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 30 to December 9, 1982. The show featured Brian Dennehy as fire chief Leslie "Buddy" Krebs and Katherine Saltzberg, then Maisnik, as his singer daughter, Jennie Lee K ...

'' (1950-1952), and ''

Peter Loves Mary ''Peter Loves Mary'' is an American situation comedy starring Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy which centers around a show-business couple and their family who move from New York City to the suburbs. Original episodes aired from 12 October 1960 u ...

'' (1960–61). He also appeared on the pilot episode of ''

The Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game, panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebr ...

'' on December 5, 1962. He and his wife Mary were occasional guests on TV quiz shows '' To Tell the Truth'', ''

Password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

'', and ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' In 1964, he appeared in an episode of '' The Outer Limits'', titled "

Behold, Eck! "Behold, Eck!" is an episode of the original '' The Outer Limits'' television show. It first aired on 3 October 1964, during the second season. Introduction A creature called Eck who lives in a two-dimensional world finds himself transported ...

", playing the lead role of Dr. Robert Stone, an absent-minded optical engineer and researcher.

Personal life

Hayes was married to Mary Healy from 1940 until his death in 1998. In 1961, Hayes and Healy co-authored their biography, titled ''Twenty-Five Minutes from Broadway''. The title was inspired by the name of the

George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...

musical ''

Forty-five Minutes from Broadway ''Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway'' is a three-act musical by George M. Cohan written about New Rochelle, New York. The title refers to the 45-minute train ride from New Rochelle to Broadway. The musical debuted on January 1, 1906 at the New Ams ...

'', about the community of

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

where the two lived. They owned Columbia Island in New Rochelle, along the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

shore. From that house, they broadcast a weekday breakfast conversation show on New York radio station 710 WOR.

Death

Hayes died from vascular problems in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 82. He was survived by his wife; a son, Peter Michael Hayes, and a daughter, Cathy Lind Hayes.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Peter Lind 1915 births 1998 deaths Male actors from San Francisco Male actors from New Rochelle, New York American male stage actors American male radio actors American male film actors American male television actors Vaudeville performers Male actors from California United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Decca Records artists 20th-century American male actors