A.C Lyles

A. C. Lyles was interviewed for three hours plus in his office at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles, CA. Lyles talked about his 77-year-long association with Paramount, for which he holds the record for the longest continuously-employed person at a motion picture studio.  He detailed his early years, when, at the age of ten, he started working at the Florida Theater in Jacksonville, part of the Paramount-Publix theater chain. He talked about meeting Paramount studio head Adolph Zukor and his continual correspondence with him, until, in 1937, Lyles took the train to Hollywood and arrived at the studio gate where he expected, and was given, a job at the studio. He described his ascent in the ranks at the studio, including working in the publicity department to producing feature films. He discussed the layout of personnel in the publicity department and talked about his work in promoting movies and establishing the “golden circle” of talented young performers. He talked about many Paramount Pictures’ notables including Cecil B. DeMille, John Barrymore, and William Holden. He spoke about Paramount’s interest in television and described the line-up of early shows on Paramount-owned KTLA.  He described the televising and impact of the “Kathy Fiscus tragedy” which aired on KTLA in 1949. Lyles also talked about knowing and working with such television luminaries as Lucille Ball, Michael Landon, and DeForest Kelley. Lyles talked about his later associations with television as the producer of Here’s Boomer and consulting producer of Deadwood. Lastly, Lyles talked about his association and friendship with Ronald Reagan, including his dedicated work for the Reagan Administration as advisor and liaison. The interview was conducted by Gary Rutkowski on August 30, 2005.