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Paul Gilbert

Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon; December 27, 1918 – February 13, 1976) was an American film and television actor.Gilbert's family were Vaudville performers, and he began his career as an aerialist, until he had a fall. He continued performing music, dancing and comedy.He starred in the 1954 series The Duke, as a former boxer who has decided to give up his fighting career to become a respectable night club owner. In the pilot episode, Gilbert sings, dances, juggles, and plays four instruments in the band.Gilbert played various roles and performed on numerous shows including The Spike Jones Show in 1954 and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in 1973. He played the role of murder victim Harrison Boring in the 1964 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Blonde Bonanza." Gilbert also appeared in other early television shows such as The NBC Comedy Hour, The Colgate Comedy Hour (1954–55), Lux Video Theatre, and The Dick Van Dyke Show.Gilbert and his much younger wife Barbara Crane adopted Melissa Gilbert who played Laura Ingalls Wilder and her brother Jonathan Gilbert who played Willie Oleson on the NBC TV series Little House on the Prairie. Melissa wrote in her book that the circumstances of her adoption are a mystery. She felt that she could have been a product of an affair Paul had with another woman, as he was supposedly married many times, and unfaithful as well.Gilbert was believed to have died suddenly of a stroke on February 13, 1976. In November 2014 however, Melissa revealed to Oprah Winfrey that she hired a private detective years after she wrote her autobiography, and discovered that Paul Gilbert was suffering from constant pain, and shot himself. It was not revealed whether Barbara Crane knew this or not. He was 57 years old.