Baby Boomer Alert: How Many Remember Actor Joe Flynn? (VIDEO)

What would "I Love Lucy" be without the Mertzes?  What would Andy Griffith be without Barney Fife?  Or Hogan's Heroes without Sgt. Schultz ("I know nothing. Nothing!).  Laverne and Shirley without Lenny and Squiggy.

The same can be said for McHale's Navy.  This popular show (1962-1966) starred the late Ernest Borgnine as Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale and his motley crew of PT boat sailors stuck out in the far western Pacific during World War II.  Joe Flynn played his meddlesome commanding officer Captain Wally Binghamton.

Flynn began his career as a vaudevillian-style ventriloquist.  He later essayed his fussy superior attitude into a string of successful movie and TV roles.  He made more than thirty films including ten for Walt Disney (who called him "one of my favorite actors.")

Yes, it is hard to imagine McHale's Navy without Flynn's high strung, horned-rimmed glasses wearing, whiny Captain Binghamton ("McHale get over here.  McHale!!").

Flynn (1924-1974) drowned in his backyard swimming pool in Hollywood at the age of 49.

He was a great character actor and a wonderful Baby Boomer memory!