James Thurston "Jim" Nabors
(born June 12, 1930) is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California due to his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and consequently joined The Andy Griffith Show
, playing Gomer Pyle, a dim-witted gas station attendant. The character proved popular, and Nabors was given his own spin-off show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C
.
Though best known for his portrayal of Gomer Pyle, Nabors became a popular guest on variety shows in the 1960s and 1970s (including two specials of his own in 1969 and 1974) after revealing a rich baritone voice. He subsequently recorded numerous albums and singles, most of them containing romantic ballads.
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JIM NABORS TICKETS
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Biography
Early life and career
Nabors was born to Mavis and Fred Nabors in
Sylacauga, Alabama, where he sang for his high school and church. He attended the
University of Alabama, where he began acting in skits. After graduating, he moved to New York, where he worked as a typist for the
United Nations;
[1] [2] after a year, he moved to
Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he got his first job in the television industry as a film cutter. Due to his
asthma, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a film cutter for
NBC. He moonlighted at a
Santa Monica tavern, The Horn, singing and acting in
cabaret theater.
[3] [4] His act featured him as a character similar to the Gomer Pyle character he would later portray: he would sing in a baritone and sometimes his higher-pitched voices and speak in a higher-pitched voice.
[5] At the club, comedian
Bill Dana saw Nabors's act and invited him to appear on
The Steve Allen Show
. Nabors signed on to the show, but it was soon canceled.
[6]
Breakthrough and popularity
It was at The Horn where Nabors was discovered by
Andy Griffith and was hired to play a one-shot role of Gomer Pyle, an "
addlebrained" gas station attendant, on
The Andy Griffith Show
.
[7] Nabors's character (based on his act at The Horn) became so popular that he was made a regular on the show and was later given his own show, the spin-off
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
, in which his character joined the
United States Marine Corps. The show, which placed Nabors's "bumbling" and "naive" character opposite Sergeant Vince Carter (
Frank Sutton), also proved popular. Despite its airing during the
Vietnam War, a time of "profound disillusionment with war and the military",
Gomer Pyle
remained popular because it avoided war-related themes and instead focused on the show's rural roots and the relationship between Pyle and Sgt. Carter.
[8] [9] [10] Eventually, however,
CBS decided that rural comedies were not well-received by their target demographic and canceled the show after six successful seasons.
Nabors revealed his rich baritone voice on a 1964 episode of
The Danny Kaye Show
and subsequently capitalized on it with numerous successful records and live performances.
[11] [12] Most of the songs were romantic
ballads, though he also sang
pop,
gospel, and
country songs.
He also hosted his own
variety show,
The Jim Nabors Hour
(1969–1971), which also featured his
Gomer Pyle
co-stars
Ronnie Schell and Frank Sutton.
[15] Despite poor critical reception, the show proved popular.
[16] [17] After the cancellation of
The Jim Nabors Hour
, Nabors embarked on a nation-wide roadshow.
[18]
Later career
"Locked into" his role as Gomer Pyle, Nabors's subsequent roles were mostly comedic.
[19] In the 1970s, he appeared in the children's television programs
Krofft Supershow
and
Buford and the Galloping Ghost
. He also appeared in every
season premiere of
The Carol Burnett Show
because Burnett considered him a "good-luck charm".
[20] However, on a 1973 episode of
The Rookies
, he played his first "serious" role, a man called on to be an
assassin after the death of his sister.
[21] [22] From 1977 to 1978, Nabors hosted another variety show,
The Jim Nabors Show
. Though the show only lasted one season, Nabors was nominated for a
Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series.
Nabors eventually grew tired of the "prime-time TV grind" and abandoned television jobs for nightclub and concert gigs and a role in a touring production of
Man of La Mancha
.
[23] However,
Sid and Marty Krofft persuaded Nabors to star in the television show
The Lost Saucer
, a show about two bumbling
androids, Fi (
Ruth Buzzi) and Fum (Nabors), who travel through time with two children. Nabors, whose character was described as a "Gomer Pyle in outer space", sang in a few of the episodes.
[24]
In the 1980s, at the request of his friend
Burt Reynolds, Nabors appeared in three feature-length films which starred Reynolds. In
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
(1982), about a sheriff (Reynolds) who falls in love with a
brothel madam (
Dolly Parton), Nabors played Deputy Fred, a character similar to Gomer Pyle.
[25] [26] Though the film was given mostly unfavorable reviews, Nabors garnered some praise for his performance.
[27] However, not only was 1983's
Stroker Ace
(about a race car driver [Reynolds] who fights a fried-chicken chain entrepreneur) panned, Nabors earned a
Golden Raspberry Award for his performance as the title character's mechanic.
In Reynold's "star-studded"
Cannonball Run II
(1984), about a cross-country car chase, Nabors made a cameo appearance alongside such celebrities as
Dom DeLuise,
Jackie Chan,
Shirley MacLaine,
Dean Martin,
Frank Sinatra, and
Andy Griffith Show
co-workers
Don Knotts and
George Lindsey.
[28] Like Reynolds's previous two films,
Cannonball
received mostly negative reviews.
[29] In 1986, Nabors returned to television, reprising his role as Gomer Pyle in the television movie
Return to Mayberry
, in which the cast of
The Andy Griffith Show
reunited.
[30] In 1986, Nabors starred in the half-hour comedy pilot "Sylvan in Paradise" as the title character, Sylvan Sprayberry, an accident-prone bell captain at a Hawaiian hotel. The series was not picked up by
NBC.
[31]
After moving to Hawaii from
Bel Air, California in 1976, he launched a show, "The Jim Nabors Polynesian Extravaganza", at the
Hilton Hawaiian Village; it ran for two years. Nabors eventually experienced "bright light burnout" and disappeared from the stage save for an occasional performance. In 1984, after a five-year hiatus, Nabors returned to performing, starring in the "Moulin Rouge" show at the
Las Vegas Hilton and other shows in
Reno and
Las Vegas.
[32] He made his theatrical debut as Harold Hill in
The Music Man
with
Florence Henderson at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre.
[33]
thumb. For over 30 years, Nabors has sung "
Back Home Again in Indiana" before the start of the race.
In 1994, Nabors suffered from a near-fatal case of
hepatitis B. According to Nabors, he contracted the disease while traveling in India; he shaved with a
straight razor and "whacked [his] face all up".
[34] The disease caused liver failure, and Nabors was not given a hopeful prognosis; however, his friend
Carol Burnett made an arrangement with the transplant division of
UCLA and secured Nabors a transplant.
[35] Nabors later became involved in the
American Liver Foundation as a result of his experience.
[36] Shortly after recovering from his liver transplant, Nabors embarked on another tour, with stops in Phoenix, St. Louis, and Washington.
[37] From 1997 to 2006, Nabors starred in the Burton White-produced
A Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors
, a live performance at the
Hawaii Theatre Center in
Honolulu, Hawaii. The production, featuring local and national artists, ran for forty performances and was directed by Tom Hansen until his death in 2006. The final performance run was directed by John Rampage and dedicated to Hansen.
[38] For over 30 years, he has sung "
Back Home Again in Indiana" with the
Purdue All-American Marching Band before each
Indianapolis 500.
Personal life
Nabors's successes have earned him accolades. He received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.
[40] "Gomer Pyle" received an honorary promotion to
Lance Corporal from the
Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones in 2001, and on September 25, 2007, he was promoted from
Lance Corporal to
Corporal by
Lt. General John F. Goodman.
[41] [42] The
Hawaii Pacific University awarded Nabors the Fellow of the Pacific Award for his "outstanding leadership, service, and dedication to the community".
[43] In 2006, he was inducted into the
Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame.
[44] He received honors from the University of Alabama on September 2, 2006, before a
football game against the
University of Hawaii. On January 19, 2007, he, along with U.S. Senator
Daniel Inouye, was honored on January 19, 2007, at "A Night of American Heroes," a yearly dinner held in benefit of the
Battleship Missouri Memorial at
Pearl Harbor.
[45] U.S. Highway 280 in
Talladega County, Alabama, was named "Jim Nabors Highway" in honor of the Sylacauga native.
For four decades, Nabors was "never without a job, either on camera or on stage", which according to him, was the reason he "never settled down and had a family".
Nabors has never married; consequently, he has been the target of rumors alleging he is
gay.
[46] [47] In the 1970s, a rumor began circulating that Nabors and then-
closeted actor
Rock Hudson were to marry. Though supposedly intended as a joke (with the punchline being that Hudson would then be known as "Rock Pyle"), the rumor was picked up by media and spread across the country.
[48] Nabors was "horrified" by the rumor, as he felt that it hindered his ability to portray himself as something other than a comedic character.
[49]
Nabors began vacationing in Hawaii in the 1960s, and in 1976, moved from Bel Air, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. For twenty-five years, he owned a
macadamia nut plantation on
Maui before selling it to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens, a
conservationist organization (he still retains farming rights to the land and owns a second home on the property).
[50]
Selected discography
Nabors has recorded twenty-eight albums and numerous singles; the albums listed have either been certified
gold or platinum by the
RIAA.
- 1966: Jim Nabors Sings Love Me With All Your Heart
(Gold)
- 1968: Jim Nabors Sings The Lord's Prayer
(Gold)
- 1980: The Heart Touching Magic Of Jim Nabors
(Platinum)
- 1990: Jim Nabors Christmas Album
(Gold)
Partial filmography
| Television
|
| Year
| Title
| Role
| Notes
|
| 1961
| The Steve Allen Show
| Himself
|
|
| 1963
| The Danny Kaye Show
| Himself
|
|
| 1964
| The Andy Griffith Show
| Gomer Pyle
|
|
| Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
| Gomer Pyle
|
|
| 1966
| The Lucy Show
| Pvt. Gomer Pyle
| One-shot role
|
| 1969
| The Jim Nabors Hour
| Himself (host)
| Was nominated for a Golden Globe (Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy) [51]
|
| 1978
| The Jim Nabors Show
| Himself (host)
| Nominated for a Daytime Emmy (for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series) [52]
|
| 1976
| The Carol Burnett Show
| Himself
|
|
| The Lost Saucer
| Fum
|
|
| 1986
| Return to Mayberry
| Gomer Pyle
| Television movie
|
| Films
|
| Year
| Title
| Role
| Notes
|
| 1982
| The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (film)
| Deputy Fred
| Feature-film debut
|
| 1983
| Stroker Ace
| Lugs Harvey
| Won a Golden Raspberry Award for his role. [53]
|
| 1984
| Cannonball Run II
| Pvt. Homer Lyle
|
|