Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor born on May 11, 1920, in Bethune, Colorado, to farmer Ben H. Pyle and his wife Maude. His brother, Willis, was an animator who worked with Walt Disney Animation Studios and UPA. After graduating from high school, Pyle briefly attended Colorado State University before dropping out to pursue a career in show business. He moved to Los Angeles in 1940 and worked as a drummer and band member until the United States entered World War II, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
During his time in the Navy, Pyle was wounded in action in the Battle of Guadalcanal and received a medical discharge in 1942. Near the end of the war, he served in the United States Merchant Marine. After the war, Pyle returned to acting, and in 1955, he married production assistant Marilee Carpenter, with whom he had two sons, David and Tony. The couple divorced in 1970.
In 1983, Pyle married Tippie Johnston, and the union lasted until his death. Throughout his career, Pyle is best known for his roles as Briscoe Darling Jr. in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985. Pyle died of lung cancer on Christmas Day in 1997, and memorial services were held on January 6, 1998, at First Baptist Church in Waxahachie, Texas. He is buried in an unmarked grave at the Forreston Cemetery in Forreston, Texas, alongside his second wife's parents, J.T. Johnston and Erin Birch Johnston.
