R.I.P. Kim Tyler, former child star of 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' and 'The Andy Griffith Show'

He played Opie's chum Billy Gray.

The Everett Collection

In "One-Punch Opie," a rough new kid comes to town named Steve Quincy. Mayberry's new bully leads Opie and his pals to a life of delinquency. Sheriff Andy is having none of that. He rounds up the boys and his son and chastises them in the police station.

"Let me say I'm mighty surprised at all you boys," Andy begins. "Billy Gray, Carter and the rest of you…"

Standing to the far right, wearing a tattered old derby hat, is Billy Gray, played by Kim Tyler. When Andy asks where Steve Quincy is, Billy Gray spits back, "Steve Quincy didn't want to come. Said he didn't have to." With his freckled, gapped teeth and tough demeanor, Tyler is the spitting image of a tough street kid. Even if the "mean streets" here are downtown Mayberry.

This 1962 episode was one of the earliest TV roles for the child actor. Around that time, he had a small recurring role on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet playing, well, "Kim," as that sitcom liked to call its cast by their real names.

Further bit roles on The Addams Family (he played neighbor boy Harold Pomeroy, who was having a birthday party in "The Addams Family Tree") and My Three Sons (he was a fellow boy scout in "One of Our Moose Is Missing") led to a big gig. In 1965, the Hollywood-born kid landed a lead role in Please Don't Eat the Daisies, the sitcom adaptation of the hit 1960 Doris Day film.

The series had a lot in common with My Three Sons. Well, there were four sons, technically, not to mention a mom, but the big, shaggy dogs were quite similar. There were also touches of The Brady Bunch, as well, with a live-in housekeeper (played by Ellen Corby of The Waltons!), though the Bradys did not come along for another half-decade.

Tyler portrayed the eldest son of the Nash clan, Kyle. He was just 11 years old when the sitcom kicked off. When the series ended after two seasons, so too did Tyler's acting career. It would be his last screen role. 

An obituary in The Los Angeles Times had a photo of a slightly elder Tyler, who passed away on February 10, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 66.


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53 Comments

Bubba77511 32 months ago
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Agrat1963 45 months ago
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jo 45 months ago
PDETD double tie in to TAGS with Mark Miller (Bob Rogers in Barney's Replacement season 2 #2) as the dad.
kimmer 45 months ago
So sad we are saying good-bye to so many people before their time.....R.I.P and Blessings to your family.

AEDC49 45 months ago
Loved watching the show new! all 58 episodes in Color one year ahead of new fall primetime all color! we only had Black & White, I kept asking for a color TV not knowing the stunning price even for a 19" then in 1965! let alone the Cats-Meow 25" Color TV Solid State Combo TV/Stereo in one was $1070-$1290! no wonder it took till early Spring 1972! to get only a single 19" for a still high $540! But loved the 1960s shows despite the B & W 19", I did get to see a lot of the shows then when staying over at relatives and friends who had the Cats-Meow etc!
jacko3 45 months ago
Kim Tyler May the Good LORD Bless You .. forever! Amen - Alleluia!
Talan 45 months ago
I was born in 1955 so this is one of my regular shows growing up, and to this day I watch it every evening. Here is a little secret for living with way less stress, don’t watch ANY NEWS, instead turn on Me TV during that time of evening. RIP Billy gone to soon.
Rick 45 months ago
We probably don’t see Please Don’t Eat The Daisy’s in syndication is because it was only on the air for 2 years. Most shows need 4+ Seasons to be viable in syndication. Munsters and Addams Family are exceptions.
Rick 45 months ago
I barely remember, but I watched the TV program back in the early 80s on a channel, Maybe The Family Channel.
AEDC49 Rick 45 months ago
Actually its not the seasons but the trigger number of 100 or better as back in the early 60's they had 39 episodes a full season and by the late 1960's it was down to a still amazing 26 episodes for a whole half a year of fresh new shows to look forward to, and in the mid 60's it was down to a transitional floating 30- 32 & if a producer wanted to do more that was still done by a few! but 58 episodes is more then worth showing airing! instead of showing the same shows over and over whether a 100 or 200 hundred or 75 or 80 but all these stations are a broken record! plus they also do nip some time from shows going to commercial breaks and some don't even show the proper 4:3 aspect ratio etc! so they should just show even if 10 shows of a show and keep the variety up and going! etc!
MikefromJersey AEDC49 45 months ago
Your post was quite informative. With 58, PDETD has about the same amount of product
as F-Troop, Munsters, Adams Family, Car 54. More than Top Cat with 30, Yogi Bear 33.
I watched these shows over and over as a kid, we didn't care how familiar we got with
episodes, we would start using lines from them, such as "It is balloon".
EVERY kid in our neighborhood knew the words to Car 54 Where Are You, one of the all
time best themes ever, once heard never forgotten. Most all of these shows ran on WPIX
in NYC, channel 11, in the 1960's and 70's as it boasted a totally kid oriented schedule.
Wiseguy Rick 45 months ago
Daisies, plural, not singular possessive. No apostrophe in plurals.
Pacificsun AEDC49 43 months ago
Yup 100 is the magic number.
Mirramanee 45 months ago
Funny--I can remember watching the show as a child (in syndication). I clearly recall the opening credits, which included a cute cartoon where their dog barked at a daisy to make it bloom(?). The dog was named Lad (or Ladadog), but I cannot really recall any of the episodes' plotlines.
Mirramanee 45 months ago
Me either.
MikefromJersey Mirramanee 45 months ago
PDETD ran for years in reruns on channel 11 in NYC. Nowadays the 60 episode mark - for kids shows - is the acceptable amount needed for reruns, which NickatNite and TVLand applied
to shows they produced in the 80's and 90's. There was a good one set in a pizza joint, filmed in Cranford, New Jersey but I can't recall the name, but I recall reading they were happy to have
hit the 60 episode mark and ceased production, to cash in on the reruns.
cassandrawht 45 months ago
I watched the show when I was 13 or 14, but I only remember one episode. The one with the Man From Uncle tie in. David McCallum made an appearance and Robert Vaughn had lines.
Pacificsun cassandrawht 43 months ago
Was very clever and cute! Thank you for remembering!
Pacificsun cassandrawht 43 months ago
One of the reasons there was a cameo visit by the MFU agents on PDETD is because Pat Crowley co-starred in the MFU pilot episode, The Vulcan Affair. And she got that part because she had previously played in The Lieutenant opposite RV, both of whom had very good chemistry together. Another reason is because MGM produced both shows, and they knew the cross-over would be great publicity for both shows!! (But apparently, not enough!).
HulkFan02 45 months ago
I didn't know that he appeared in The Andy Griffith Show
Jeffrey 45 months ago
Well, That's a shame about Kim Tyler dying, I didn't know him or seen him in any of the shows they mentioned, But it's a bigger shame about George Segal passing away. I have seen a few of the movies he was in. I will miss him the most, even though I never met him in real life.
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