Hy Pyke

Hy Pyke December 2 1935 October 26 2006 was an American character actor Pyke was born Monty Pike in Los Angeles California the son of vaudevillian David Pike and his wife Pauline Pyke majored in theatre at UCLA in the 1960s appearing in numerous student films including one for Ray Manzarek keyboard player of The Doors called Induction 1965 which also featured The Doors vocalist Jim Morrison in a brief role During that time period Pyke was also associated with Del Close From UCLA Pyke went on to have a long career playing strange often comic characters in usually outoftheordinary lowbudget independent features with some brief appearances in mainstream films Some of his mainstream appearances like a small part in the John Milius film Dillinger 1973 ended up cut out of the final film Although many of his better known films are in the horror genre Pyke acted in everything from blaxploitation to musical comedies He had a uniquely manic acting style with a penchant for physical exaggerated comedy marked by a distinctive raspy voice In the 1970s Pykes physical appearance was equally distinctive Very short slightly overweight with a moustache and heavily balding head of wild black hair he resembled the archetypal Mexican bandit of Bwesterns or Sancho Panza a role he played in The Erotic Adventures Of Don Quixote 1976 Besides his film work Pyke acted in theater musical revues etc During the 1970s Pyke delivered a number of bizarre performances in offbeat films His most memorable role was as a creepy bus driver in the 1975 horror film Lemora A Childs Tale Of The Supernatural Other notable 1970s Pyke appearances were in Dolemite 1975 The First Nudie Musical 1976 and in Spawn Of The Slithis 1978 Pyke played the part of Bebe Rebozo in an unreleased Richard Nixon satire called The Way He Was From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia