page_title: Joe Flynn (American actor)
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Joe Flynn (American actor) / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: L. to R.&#160;: Lon Chaney, Jr., Joe Flynn &amp; Robert Shayne in Indestructible Man - publicity still (original image damaged, modified&#160;: see source)
context_page_description: Joseph Anthony Flynn III was an American character actor. He was best known for his role as Captain Wallace Binghamton in the 1960s ABC television situation comedy McHale's Navy. He was also a frequent guest star on 1960s TV shows, such as Batman, and appeared in several Walt Disney film comedies.
context_section_description: Flynn's interest in theater was evident well before his departure from northeastern Ohio. He established himself early on as a ventriloquist and radio disc jockey. Flynn also gained local celebrity as a director by guiding the Canfield Players in such productions as Harvey, Antigone, and Pursuit of Happiness. He broke into television in pre-network days and, in 1948, starred in his own situation comedy, Yer Old Buddy. The show was a local affair, produced and broadcast by pioneering Los Angeles station KTLA.
  After appearing in a number of stage plays, Flynn returned to Youngstown, where in 1950, he conducted an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the Ohio Senate as a Republican. Following his electoral defeat, he pursued his acting career and appeared in nearly 30 films, including many Disney films. Flynn later recalled watching an audience's reaction to his performance in the 1956 horror film The Indestructible Man starring Lon Chaney, Jr.. Although he played a serious part in the picture, people laughed, which convinced him that comedy was his forte.
  He also starred in several episodes of the syndicated 1957-1958 series The Silent Service, a show dedicated to the US Navy's submarine service during World War II. He played Mr. Kelley in 15 episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and other classics like The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Twilight Zone, and Make Room for Daddy.
  Over the years, Flynn achieved recognition in television, earning credits as a regular on William Bendix's The Life of Riley and on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He appeared at least twice on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. His appearance on March 30, 1961, was a patriotic program set at sea on a United States Navy aircraft carrier. He guest starred on Walter Brennan's ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys and on the syndicated western, Pony Express.
  In 1961, Flynn was cast as a regular on the first season of NBC's The Joey Bishop Show, but left early, reportedly because he was stealing too many scenes from Joey Bishop. That same year, he guest starred on the Peggy Cass and Jack Weston series The Hathaways, an unusual sitcom about a suburban Los Angeles couple that adopts three chimpanzees. He appeared, too, in Edmond O'Brien's syndicated 1960 crime drama, Johnny Midnight and earlier on Jim Davis's syndicated adventure series, Rescue 8.
caption: Lon Chaney, Jr., Joe Flynn and Robert Shayne in Indestructible Man (1956)
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