Peter Lind Hayes

b. Joseph Conrad Lind, 25 June 1915, San Francisco, California, USA, d. 21 April 1998, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. His mother, Grace Hayes, worked in vaudeville and he developed an early interest in the theatre and music. Sometimes billed as Peter Hayes or Lind Hayes, his film appearances of the 30s include Maid For A Day (1936), Sunday Night At The Trocadero (1937), Danger On The Air (1938), Million Dollar Legs and These Glamour Girls (both 1939). In the early 40s, he was in Seventeen and Dancing On A Dime (both 1940) and Playmates (1941). After serving in the US Air Force during World War II he resumed appearing in films, on stage, in clubs and on radio and television, sometimes in company with his wife, Mary Healy. He wrote songs, collaborating with Nacio Herb Brown and Frank Loesser and others. Hayes’ co-compositions include ‘When You Used To Dance With Me (Alone)’, ‘Why Do They Call A Private A Private?’, ‘Cool Alaska Rock And Roll’, ‘Come To Me’ and ‘If I Loved You, Like You Loved You’, the latter the theme of his popular television series, The Peter Lind Hayes Show (1950). Hayes’ wife also appeared on his television show, and they also worked together in cabaret at venues such as the Empire Room at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. In 1956, Hayes and his wife performed an operetta parody he had written in a television special presented by Ford Star Jubilee in CBS-TV Network. The show, entitled You’re The Top, was a tribute to Cole Porter produced, staged and choreographed by Robert Alton, directed by Seymour Berris, and featured a star-studded cast performing some of Porter’s songs, including ‘You Do Something To Me’ (Dorothy Dandridge), ‘In The Still Of The Night’ and ‘Wunderbar’ (Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones), ‘Always True To You In My Fashion’ (Dolores Gray), ‘Now You Has Jazz’ (Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong), and Hayes and Healy sang the show’s title song. Hayes was also a frequent panellist on television’s What’s My Line, succeeded Arthur Godfrey on CBS, and appeared in acting roles in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Body In The Barn (1964), The Outer Limits: Behold Eck! (1964) and Vega$ (1979). He also continued to make occasional films. Hayes made records, including ‘Genie, The Magic Record’ and Carson Jay Robison’s ‘Life Gets Tee-Jus, Don’t It’, with which he had some success in the USA and in the UK.