A.C. Lyles 2010 - P 2013
Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesPublicist and producer A.C. Lyles, who in recent years has served as the studio ambassador at Paramount Pictures, died Friday. He was 95.
Lyles had worked for Paramount since he was 10 years old, longer than any other employee in the history of that studio.
He first went to work more than 80 years ago in the Paramount mailroom when Adolph Zukor ran the studio. He was a publicist for many years before making a transition to producing.
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Andrew Craddock Lyles was born in Jacksonville, Fla., and first met Zukor while he was working as an usher at the Florida Theater, then owned by Paramount. He finally saved enough money to move to Los Angeles in 1938.
After two years in the mailroom, Lyles moved to the publicity and advertising department. He eventually supervised advertising.
He started producing in 1967 with Short Cut to Hell, the only movie ever directed by James Cagney. He went on to produce low-budget movies, mostly Westerns.
After leaving the studio for a short time, he returned to work in television. He worked on ABC’s Afterschool Specials and the CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People as well as the A Christmas for Boomer special in 1979.
When Paramount produced a series of NBC World Premiere movies in the 1970s, Lyles was a producer on several films, including Flight to Holocaust. As recently as 2006, he was credited as a consulting producer on the HBO Western Deadwood.
Lyles was feted in 1990 by the Boy Scouts of America with its Jimmy Stewart Good Turn Award, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1992, he was honored by Hollywood publicists as a founding member of their guild.
Lyles was seen in numerous documentaries over the years, including Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema and Hollywood Renegade. In his final years, Lyles served as an ambassador at large for the studio, often meeting with visitors and dignitaries who came to the Hollywood lot.
Actor-producer Scott Baio worked near Lyles at Paramount and called him “a dear friend. I will miss his advice and his wonderful stories. He was a true gentleman.”
Paramount CEO Brad Grey sent the following memo to the studio’s staff on Monday:
To: Paramount Employees