{{short description|American actor (1910–1990)}} {{for|the English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor|Kenny Lynch}} {{Infobox person | name = Ken Lynch | image = Ken Lynch Richard Gordon Bishop and the Gargoyle 1941.jpg | image_size = | caption = Lynch (left) and Richard Gordon in the radio program ''The Bishop and the Gargoyle'' | birth_name = Kenneth Englehart Lynch | birth_date = {{birth date|1910|07|15}} | birth_place = Albany, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1990|02|13|1910|07|15}} | death_place = Burbank, California, U.S. | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1940–1983 }}
'''Kenneth E. Lynch''' (July 15, 1910 – February 13, 1990) was an American radio, film, and television actor with more than 180 credits to his name. He was generally known for portraying law enforcement officers and detectives. He may have been best known for his starring role as "the Lieutenant" on Dumont detective series ''The Plainclothesman'' (1949–1954), on which his face was never seen, and for his co-starring role as Sergeant Grover on ''McCloud''.<ref>Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh,{{cite book|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present|year=2003|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=0-345-45542-8|pages=758, 940}}</ref>
==Early life== {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2022}} Kenneth Englehart Lynch was born on July 15, 1910, in Albany, New York, the only child of Bertha Dietzel and Charles William Lynch. His father was a native of Woburn, Massachusetts, who started his career as a coffee salesman, and then became a creamery owner in Troy, New York. His mother was from Yonkers, New York, a third generation German-American. His middle name was his maternal grandmother's maiden name.
==Career== Lynch made his acting career on radio series. In 1940, on ''The Bishop and the Gargoyle'', he played the Gargoyle, an ex-convict who helped the Bishop solve crimes.<ref name=bb>Frank Buxton and Bill Owen, ''The Big Broadcast'', page 39, The Viking Press, 1972</ref> From 1942 to 1946, he was the voice of Tank Tanker, the mechanic, who aides the title character in ''Hop Harrigan''.{{r|bb|page1=147}}
He had roles on three daytime radio soap operas. Lynch played Victor on ''Backstage Wife'',{{r|bb|page1=28}} Buck on ''Portia Faces Life'',{{r|bb|page1=243}} and Slim Stark on ''A Woman of America''.{{r|bb|page1=332}} In 1950, Lynch starred in ''One Thousand Dollars Reward'', a rare crime drama, where after the crime play had ended, the host would place a telephone call to a random listener, who would then try to solve the mystery. Lynch also appeared on the radio shows ''The Falcon'', ''21st Precinct'', and ''Gunsmoke''.<ref>Jim Cox, ''Radio Crime Fighters: More Than 300 Programs from the Golden Age'', page 124, McFarland</ref> Later, in 1952, he played both Christopher Gard and Steve Lacey in ''Cafe Istanbul'' on CBS radio.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22Cafe+Istanbul,+foreign+intrigue%22+%22Ken+Lynch+as+Christopher+Gard%22&pg=PA130 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=130–131 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-10-04}}</ref>
From 1949 to 1954, Lynch starred in ''The Plainclothesman'' on the DuMont Television Network.<ref name=etvs>Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6477-7}}. Pp. 838–839.</ref> In his role of the lieutenant on that program, he did not appear on camera, giving the impression that viewers saw things through his eyes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weinstein |first1=David |title=The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television |date=2004 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-59213-499-1 |page=139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tV7fXlQQdz4C&dq=%22Ken+Lynch%22&pg=PA139 |access-date=October 8, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> He appeared in numerous television series. He made three guest appearances on ''Perry Mason'', including the role of Wallace Lang in "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" in 1959, Robert Hayden in "The Case of the Irate Inventor" in 1960 and Customs Inspector Wendel in "The Case of the Floating Stones" in 1963. Some of the other series in which Lynch appeared are ''Peter Gunn'', ''Zorro'', ''Have Gun - Will Travel'' ("Fight at Adobe Wells"), ''Gunsmoke'' (“Bureaucrat” & “The Patsy”), ''Checkmate'' ("Cyanide Touch"), woman"), ''Checkmate'' ("Born To Hang"), ''The Asphalt Jungle'', ''Straightaway'', ''The Honeymooners'', ''The Fugitive'', ''The Andy Griffith Show'', ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', ''Blue Light'', ''Adam-12'', ''Star Trek'' ("The Devil in the Dark") Season 1, Episode 25 as Chief Engineer Vanderberg in 1967, ''Maverick'', ''All In The Family'' (in the famous episode, "Archie and the Lockup", where he played Guard Callaghan), ''The Twilight Zone'' ("Mr. Denton on Doomsday"), ''The Rifleman'', and ''The Wild Wild West''. In 1960 Lynch appeared as Al Killmer in the TV western series ''Lawman'' in the episode titled "The Escape of Joe Killmer." He played The Freighter in S8 E26 "The Jarbo Pierce Story" on "Wagon Train", 1965.
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|Ken Lynch in The Andy Griffith Show 1962 --> Between 1972 and 1977, he made 16 guest appearances on ''McCloud'', performing as a police sergeant and later a detective named Grover on the series.<ref>Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 – Present'' (Seventh Edition), Ballantine Books, 1999, page 262.</ref> In September 1974, he appeared in the very first episode of the cult classic,Kolchak:The Night Stalker, playing a police captain.He previously appeared in 12 episodes of ''Gunsmoke'', 10 episodes of ''The F.B.I.'', nine episodes of ''Bonanza'', and six episodes in both ''The Virginian'' and ''Gomer Pyle, USMC''. Among the feature films in which he appeared are ''I Married a Monster from Outer Space'', ''North By Northwest'', ''The Lawbreakers'', ''Pork Chop Hill'', ''Anatomy of a Murder'' and ''Tora! Tora! Tora!''. He appeared in ''Battlestar Galactica'' as Dr Horning in episode 22, "Experiment in Terra" (1979). Lynch's last credited performance was in the role of Rear Admiral Talbot Gray in the 1983 seven-part miniseries ''The Winds of War''.<ref>Alvin H. Merrill, ''More Theatre III: Stage to Screen to Television'', page 160, 2008, Scarecrow Press</ref>
==Flower business== Even though Lynch still had a very successful career as an actor by the 1970s, he began looking for another, more steady source of income. He explained in a 1975 newspaper interview: "In acting you just can't predict the jobs that will come along. If you could, you could budget."<ref name=bc>{{cite news|title=Ken Lynch: A Tough Guy Surrounded by Flowers|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8892382/the_bakersfield_californian/|work=The Bakersfield Californian|date=August 24, 1975|location=California, Bakersfield|page=112|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = February 11, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> With such income uncertainty in mind as he grew older, Lynch bought a flower shop in North Hollywood a "few years" before the noted interview. He began studying floriculture, taking courses in the art of floral arranging and design, and then providing flowers for local weddings, receptions, and other events. According to Lynch, his many years of experience performing on decorated sets for movies and television series proved to be a benefit to him in his new business. "Actually," he observed, "servicing a wedding is like ordering flowers for a studio set".<ref name=bc/>
==Death== Lynch died at age 79 from a virus on February 13, 1990, in Burbank, California. He was buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=May 2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0983-9 |page=198 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA198 |language=en}}</ref>
==Filmography== {{Portal|Biography|Radio|Film|Television}}
===Film=== *''When Willie Comes Marching Home'' (1950) - (uncredited) *''Run Silent, Run Deep'' (1958) – Frank (uncredited) *''Young and Wild'' (1958) – David Whitman *''The Bonnie Parker Story'' (1958) – Cook *''Man or Gun'' (1958) – Buckstorm Corley *''Voice in the Mirror'' (1958) – Frank, Bartender *''I Married a Monster from Outer Space'' (1958) – Dr. Wayne *''Unwed Mother'' (1958) – Ray Curtis *''Paratroop Command'' (1959) – Lieutenant Ed *''Pork Chop Hill'' (1959) – Major General Trudeau *''Anatomy of a Murder'' (1959) – Detective Sergeant James Durgo *''The Legend of Tom Dooley'' (1959) – Father *''North by Northwest'' (1959) – Officer Charlie *''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' (1960) – Harry Ralston *''Seven Ways from Sundown'' (1960) – Graves *''Portrait of a Mobster'' (1961) – Lieutenant D. Corbin *''The Honeymoon Machine'' (1961) – Captain James Angle *''Walk on the Wild Side'' (1962) – Frank Bonito *''Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962) – Proprietor (uncredited) *''Dead Ringer'' (1964) – Captain Johnson *''Apache Rifles'' (1964) – Hodges *''Dear Heart'' (1964) – The Masher *''Mister Buddwing'' (1966) – Dan *''Hotel'' (1967) – Joe Laswell *''P.J.'' (1968) – Thorson *''Never a Dull Moment'' (1968) – Police Lieutenant (uncredited) *''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' (1970) – Rear Admiral John H. Newton (uncredited) *''Across 110th Street'' (1972) – Tailor Shop Patrolman *''Bard Charleston Charlie'' (1973) – Sheriff Harve Koontz *''Willie Dynamite'' (1974) – Judge #1 *''W'' (1974) – Guard
===Television=== * ‘’The Honeymooners ‘’ (1956) “ Trapped” as Police Officer * ''Gunsmoke'' (1958) – Episode "The Patsy" as Cowboy Fly Ho * ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (1958) (Season 4 Episode 7: "Man with a Problem") as Police Lieutenant * Perry Mason (1959) "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" as Wallace Lang * ''Bonanza'' (1960) (Season 1 Episode 22 "Blood on the Land") as Collier * ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (1960) (Season 1 Episode 2 ( Manhunt) as Captain Barker state police * ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (1960) (Season 2 Episode 18 ( Jailbreak ) as Mr. Horton state police * ''All in the Family'' (1971) "Archie in the Lock-Up" as Guard Callahan. * ''All in the Family'' (1973) "Everybody Tells The Truth" as Bob the Repairman * ‘’Star Trek ‘’ (1967) “ The Devil in the Dark” as Chief Engineer Vanderberg
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0528373}} {{Memory Alpha}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Ken}} Category:1910 births Category:1990 deaths Category:20th-century American male actors Category:American male television actors Category:American male radio actors Category:Male actors from Albany, New York Category:American people of German descent Category:Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery Category:Western (genre) television actors