image of burt reynolds in centerfold for playgirl magazine

“The members of the cast get along well,” Lyle says, “and the ‘pros’ help me a lot.” Since joining the show Waggoner has found that working with 'pros' like Miss Burnett, Harvey Korman and others has been a great aid.

“I feel I'm identified with my own name,” he said, “rather than with a character's name.” The reason he didn't take it was that in the Burnett show he's playing himself and getting the opportunity to play a variety of characters in the skits. He was offered a role in Land of the Giants, a series scheduled next fall, but he turned it down. And he doesn't regret the decision to take the job. He feels now that he has gotten valuable experience in the announcing role.

Waggoner, a longtime fan of Miss Burnett's, had an interview and after a few weeks he started the show. Lyle, who wasn't necessarily an announcer, heard from his agent that a person of his type (a leading man) was being sought for the job. He now has an arrangement with 20th to go back with them after the Burnett show has run its course. It was the school at Fox which helped him get the TV job. He finally got an acting contract-seven-year one from 20th Century Fox. After he got the first one, Waggoner found that things went a little better but he still was seeking an acting job. He went a year without a commercial acting job. He tried that but things were “pretty slim” for awhile. “Things didn't go too well at MGM,” he says, “but I thought I might like to do commercial acting.” A couple months later he got a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer and was taking lessons in all facets of show business singing, dancing, acting. He was in Hollywood about a week before he took a salesman's job. Louis to try to get into the film industry. So he left his own seasonal business in St. Louis native decided four years ago that acting was what he wanted to do. Waggoner also feels, he said in a telephone interview, that he's getting a chance to act in the role. He got the role and now viewers of the show recognize Lyle as the announcer Miss Burnett swoons over every week. The big break for the tall (6-4), handsome actor came last summer when he tried for the role of announcer on the Carol Burnett Show. It took four years in Hollywood but Lyle Waggoner has finally become an “overnight success.” Waggoner ‘Overnight Success’ After Four Years

Here’s a feature story from the Sioux City Sun of March 17, 1968. Waggoner was bashed in some quarters for his acting range-he left Burnett to show he was more than a face that made middle-aged women giddy-but he was enough in demand that he spent four seasons co-starring opposite Lynda Carter on Wonder Woman. But that left him available when Carol Burnett wanted him as the male sex object for her new variety show in 1967, albeit he was technically playing the part of the show’s announcer.

Image of burt reynolds in centerfold for playgirl magazine