Jim Nabors, best known for his portrayal of the lovable and dimwitted Gomer Pyle, passed away on November 30, 2017, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 87 years old. His death marked the end of a long and varied career that saw him go from a small-screen comic sensation to a gold-selling recording artist. Born James Thurston Nabors on June 12, 1930, in Alabama, he was raised in the South and graduated from the University of Alabama.
Before finding fame, he worked as a typing clerk at the United Nations. He later moved to Los Angeles, partly due to his asthma, and took a job as a film cutter for NBC. His big break came from a cabaret act he performed at The Horn, a popular nightclub in Santa Monica. His unusual blend of operatic classical singing and an awkward, rural stage persona caught the attention of comedian Bill Dana, who invited him to audition for Steve Allen’s variety show.
He became a recurring guest on that program, which led to his next major opportunity. Andy Griffith saw Nabors’ act and cast him as Gomer Pyle, the gentle and naive gas station attendant on his hit 1960s sitcom. The character quickly became a cultural phenomenon, with his wide-eyed “shazam” expressions and folksy exclamations entering the American vernacular. The popularity of the role led to a spin-off, *Gomer Pyle, U.
S. M. C. *, which debuted in 1964.
The show, which followed the bumbling recruit clashing with the strict Sergeant Carter, was a solid success and ran for five seasons. Despite the career boost, the role typecast him as a gullible, squeaky-clean hick. He found subsequent television work on children’s series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and Jim Henson. He also pivoted toward music, leaning into his rich baritone voice.
He released several romantic, easy-listening albums, five of which achieved gold status and one platinum. His recording of “The Lord’s Prayer” also earned him a gold record. On television, he became a frequent guest on top primetime variety and late-night programs, including *The Tonight Show*, *The Dean Martin Show*, and shows hosted by Sonny & Cher, David Frost, and Joey Bishop. He also served as the annual season-opening guest on his close friend Carol Burnett’s variety series throughout its twelve-year network run.
CBS gave him his own program, *The Jim Nabors Hour*, which premiered in 1968. Although it ran for just two seasons, it earned him a Golden Globe nomination and featured frequent appearances from his *Gomer Pyle* co-stars Frank Sutton and Ronnie Schell. A decade later, he hosted *The Jim Nabors Show* in 1978, which was short-lived but resulted in a Daytime Emmy nomination. His friend Burt Reynolds helped him make his theatrical debut as Harold Hill in a production of *The Music Man* at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre, with Florence Henderson playing Marian the Librarian.
He also appeared in comic supporting roles in two Reynolds films, *The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas* in 1982 and *Stroker Ace* in 1983. For most of his career, Nabors was publicly single and kept his private life out of the spotlight. In the early 1970s, rumors circulated that he was secretly married to Rock Hudson. Nabors strongly denied those claims, maintaining that Hudson was only a friend, while Hudson brushed them off less forcefully.
His health declined over the years, and in 1994, he underwent a liver transplant. After that, he largely retreated from public life, preferring the quiet pace of living in Hawaii, where he ran a macadamia nut plantation. As recently as 2000, a spokesman for Nabors denied that the star was gay. However, in 2005, the *St.
Petersburg Times* listed him among gay stars in the entertainment industry, alongside figures like Robert Reed, Paul Lynde, and Charles Nelson Reilly. On January 15, 2013, at the age of 82, Nabors publicly confirmed his private life by marrying his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwalader, a retired Honolulu firefighter. The couple wed at a Seattle hotel, just a month after Washington became a same-sex marriage state.