In 1979, he launched Star Waggons, which rented motor homes for actors, makeup artists, etc. Waggoner hosted the syndicated quiz show It’s Your Bet in the 1970s and appeared as himself on a 1999 episode of That ’70s Show. Army and serving as a radio operator.īack home, as he worked as a door-to-door salesman, customers kept telling him, “You should be an actor.” He appeared in a local production of Li’l Abner, came to California and got into “new talent” programs at MGM and then Fox, where Tom Selleck and James Brolin were also beginning their careers. He briefly attended Washington University in St. If there was a scene where he got the drop on the bad guys, sure enough, someone would end up slapping the gun out of his hand and turning the tables on him.”īorn on April 13, 1935, Kyle Wesley Waggoner was a wrestler and a high jumper at Kirkwood High School in Missouri. Of course, he pretty much had to because it was Wonder Woman’s job to rescue him. “Steve tried his best, but he always seemed to get himself into hot water. “He was a real gung-ho kind of guy,” Waggoner said of Trevor in a 2011 interview. (You couldn’t tell that Diana, being an Amazon, had aged at all.) Now Waggoner was playing Steve Trevor Jr., head of a CIA-type crime-fighting agency whose dad had been killed. When the series, then set in the 1940s, became too expense to produce, it was shifted into the present day and picked up by CBS. Waggoner was usually there to play “the handsome guy,” someone for Burnett to drool over.Īnd “If you needed a mounted policeman from Canada,” writer Arnie Kogen said, “Lyle was your man.”Ībout a year after walking away from the show in 1974 - to be eventually replaced by frequent guest star Tim Conway - Waggoner landed the role of Major Steve Trevor on ABC’s Wonder Woman, starring Lynda Carter as the Amazon princess Diana. That would be the 6-foot-3, dark-haired Waggoner, whom Mackie called “a big Ken doll.” He eventually was given more to do and played around in skits with Burnett, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence. “So she had the big announcer person that she could play off of.” Though it seems hard to believe now, Burnett “was afraid to talk to the audience when that show started she didn’t want to have to talk directly to them on camera,” Bob Mackie, the costume designer on the iconic sketch-comedy show, revealed in a 2000 interview for the website The Interviews: An Oral History of Television. (Producer Joe Hamilton, Burnett’s husband, was searching for a “Rock Hudson type.”) PLAYGIRL's 50th anniversary will be marked in 2023 by exciting retrospective exhibitions, merchandise, and limited print editions.įor more information visit or contact our media rep:ĭanny McKaren Tel: had been on an episode of Gunsmoke and in a couple of forgettable films when he was hired to serve as the announcer on CBS’ new The Carol Burnett Show, which went on the air on Sept. This year HBO Max released a popular series, Minx, inspired by Playgirl, as the first magazine empowering women to explore their sexuality.
In Fall of 2020, Playgirl unveiled its first relaunched print edition with Oscar-nominated actress, Chloë Sevigny and her baby bump on the cover, shot nude by famed fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti. Recently, PLAYGIRL has begun its entry back into the pop culture landscape. In addition, the magazine has featured original writing from prestigious literary figures such as Gloria Steinem, Joyce Carol Oates, Anais Nin, Truman Capote, Maya Angelou, Raymond Carver and Tennessee Williams, as well as the world-renowned photography of Annie Leibovitz, Greg Gorman, Herb Ritts, Norbert Jobst and Robert Mapplethorpe. Over the years, PLAYGIRL has scored notable high-profile interviews from the likes of Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono, Larry Flynt, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Paul McCartney, Cher, Michael Douglas and Kathy Griffin to timeless icons such as Burt Reynolds, River Phoenix, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers and many more. The Hollywood elite which have graced our covers range from Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Banderas, Rob Lowe, Richard Gere, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Selleck and Sylvester Stallone to Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Liza Minnelli and Jamie Lee Curtis." PLAYGIRL launches new site, PLAYGIRLPLUS.COM, showcasing highlights from its 50-year legacy.Ī PLAYGIRL Rep says of the launch: "We're excited that PLAYGIRL finally has a place online that documents the rich and diverse history of the brand.