Lyle Waggoner Biography

Lyle Waggoner's first acting was as a muscle man in a Kansas City production of 'Li'l Abner'. However, to properly steer his acting ambitions, he established a sales promotion organization that helped him secure the funds for his trip to Los Angeles. In 1966, he appeared in the film 'Swamp Country' and in an episode of the series 'Gunsmoke'. The same year, the TV series version of 'Batman' premiered, for whose role he was one of the finalists, but eventually lost to Adam West. He next acted in the musical mystery film 'Catalina Caper' and had a guest role in an episode of the sci-fi series 'Lost in Space' in 1967. Also that year, he began appearing as the announcer and performer on the comedy sketch and variety show, 'The Carol Burnett Show'. He continued to appear on the show for the next 7 years before leaving in 1974, to advance his career as a lead actor.

In 1975, Lyle Waggoner landed the breakthrough role of Steve Trevor on the 'Wonder Woman' television series starring Lynda Carter. Interestingly, in his pilot script for the series, Stanley Ralph Ross described the character of Steve Trevor as 'a Lyle Waggoner-type', which helped him bag the role. He later portrayed Steve Trevor Jr., too, on the series. Following the success of the role, he appeared on a series of 'hunk' roles in series such as 'Charlie's Angels', 'The San Pedro Beach Bums', 'Happy Days', 'Mork & Mindy', 'The Golden Girls', 'Ellen', and 'The War at Home', apart from multiple roles on 'The Love Boat', 'Fantasy Island', and 'Murder, She Wrote'. He remained a heartthrob on television throughout 1960s, and 1970s, following which he shifted focus from acting to business and sculpting.

Lyle Waggoner founded Star Waggons, a company that leases customized location trailers for use by the entertainment industry, in 1979. In 1990, he and Shawn Bruner co-hosted the consumer-product show 'Consumer America', which he also co-produced. The show ran for two seasons and featured novel national products from self-help to home goods. He hosted the infomercial 'Let's Talk With Lyle Waggoner' in 1993, for a supposedly natural product called Y-Bron which claimed to cure male impotence, but the company behind the product was later fined $1.5 million for unsubstantiated claims.

Lyle Wesley Waggoner was born on April 13, 1935, in Kansas City, Kansas, United States, to Marie and Myron Waggoner. He moved to Excelsior Springs, Missouri with his family when he was 5. He completed his graduation from Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri in 1953. He was a state high school wrestling champion and was also a high jumper. He spent one semester at Washington University in St. Louis before joining the United States Army, following which he served two years as a radio operator in the Signal Corps in Germany. After his military service was over, he studied mechanical engineering in the junior executive program at General Motors Institute. He subsequently became a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.

On September 17, 1961, Lyle Waggoner married Sharon Kennedy, an actress, financial consultant, and realtor. They had two sons together: Beau Justin Waggoner and Jason Kennedy Waggoner. He lived near Jackson, Wyoming, and had homes in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico; Oxnard California, and Westlake Village, California.

Lyle Waggoner died on March 17, 2020, in his home in Los Angeles area, from cancer. He was 84.