Editing Paul Lynde (section)

== Early life ==
Paul Lynde was born in [[Mount Vernon, Ohio]], the son of Sylvia Bell Lynde ({{nee|Doup}}) and Hoy Corydon Lynde, who owned and operated a meat market.<ref name=gazette /><ref name="1982upi">{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Vernon |title=Paul Lynde, the sardonic and irreverent comedian who starred... |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/11/Paul-Lynde-the-sardonic-and-irreverent-comedian-who-starred/9921379573200/ |access-date=August 16, 2019 |work=United Press International |date=January 11, 1982}}</ref> Fifth-born among six siblings, Lynde had older sisters, Grace and Helen, older brothers, Richard Hoy and Coradon ("Cordy") George and younger brother, John ("Johnny"). His favorite brother, Coradon, died in 1944 at the age of 21, in the [[Battle of the Bulge]] in World War II.<ref name= 2014biog /><ref name=gazette /> In 1949, his parents died within three months of each other.<ref name= 2014biog />

Lynde graduated in 1944 from [[Mount Vernon High School (Ohio)|Mount Vernon High School]], where he played the bass drum in the high school band.<ref name=1982upi /> He then studied speech and drama at [[Northwestern University]] in Evanston, Illinois, where his classmates included [[Cloris Leachman]], [[Charlotte Rae]], [[Patricia Neal]], [[Jeffrey Hunter]], and [[Claude Akins]]. He was active in the school's theatrical productions,<ref name = 1982upi /> and joined the Upsilon chapter of the fraternity [[Phi Kappa Sigma]]. He is listed among its most famous members.<ref>{{cite news |first = L. |last = Washburn |publisher = Phi Kappa Sigma member Northwestern University, Class of 1950 |title = [personal communication] |date = February 27, 2018}}</ref> He graduated in 1948.