A.C. Lyles

A legendary figure in the history of Hollywood moviemaking, if a largely unknown one to the general public, producer A.C. Lyles spent over eight decades as an employee at Paramount Studios, where he oversaw a string of extremely profitable low-budget Western features in the mid- to late-1960s. Lyles became entranced with motion pictures as a boy, and worked his way into a job at Paramount through a series of letters to Paramount chief Adolph Zukor. He moved up the studio ladder to producer in the late 1950s, overseeing minor genre films like "Short Cut to Hell" (1956), a noir directed by James Cagney. In the 1960s, he began working on Westerns, which he populated with former A-list stars whose careers had stalled due to age or unfortunate circumstance. His features never lost a dollar due to their modest budgets, and his track record eventually carried him to the White House, where he served as a conduit for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and the Hollywood elite. As Lyles entered his ninth decade, he settled comfortably into his role as living show business history lesson, regaling visitors to his office on the lot with tales of Hollywood luminaries from days gone by. A.C. Lyles' extraordinary career and longevity made him an icon in a business not known for its respect for older, experienced talent.