# Did Sargent Carter (Frank Sutton) make "Gomer Pyle" A Hit **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219 "2008-09-12T03:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/21 "2008-09-13T06:42:25Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I think Gomer Pyle came quite late in his career and was by far his biggest role. He died soon after the series ended; I think he was only 50. I hear people saying R. Lee Ermey, but I see him as too heavyhanded. Sutton had that talent for being so exasperated he just couldn’t see straight, but wasn’t mean enough to do anything about it. He _wanted_ to be R. Lee Ermey. It might have ended badly for R. Lee Ermey. I can picture Jim Nabors in the head, field-stripping his rifle. Private Hummel encounters him. Private Hummel: Are those… live rounds? Private Gomer Pyle: Seven-six-two millimeter. Full. Metal. Jacket. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/22 "2008-09-14T02:28:28Z")
> [@KRSOradio](#): > > Perhaps I feel Frank Sutton didn’t get enough credit for the success of that show I’ll go along with you there. Ditto for Ed Platt in _Get Smart_ and Werner Klemperer in _Hogan’s Heroes._ ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/23 "2008-09-14T06:41:42Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He has lengthy credits on imdb, but I don’t recall ever having seen Frank Sutton on anything. Has anybody else? I remember him as one of Ernest Borgnine’s dead-end friends in _Marty_ (1955), and in some '70s disaster TV-movie about a hurricane, in which Sutton played a goodtime Charlie who ignores warnings to evacuate, and throws a party instead. Well, the hurricane smashes through his apartment in the midst of the frivolity. ---
**Author:** ![ShermanAter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ShermanAter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShermanAter)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/24 "2008-09-14T08:23:38Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I think Gomer Pyle came quite late in his career and was by far his biggest role. He died soon after the series ended; I think he was only 50.(snip) Gomer Pyle is dead? I still have a Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. lunch box from the first grade (circa 1965) around here somewhere. The Thermos is long gone but I still treasure it because it has my name inside the lid in Moms handwriting. Thanks for the memory. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/25 "2008-09-14T09:34:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Ditto for Ed Platt in Get Smart and Werner Klemperer in Hogan’s Heroes. Werner did win an Emmy for his role as Col. Klink. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/26 "2008-09-14T10:02:31Z")
A lot of those sitcoms were built around a smart arse- such as Hogan in Hogans Heroes and a dumbo - you could add F Troop to that. And just hijacking- so may military movies are made around the premise of a senior officer getting up a more junior officer who had a different view. Such as The Battle of The Bulge. (The movie, not the battle) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219/27 "2008-09-14T15:41:03Z")
> [@ShermanAter](#): > > Gomer Pyle is dead? Jim Nabors is still alive. Frank Sutton died in 1974. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-sargent-carter-frank-sutton-make-gomer-pyle-a-hit/463219.md?page=1)