About Wayland Flowers
Wayland Parrott Flowers Jr. (November 26, 1939 – October 11, 1988) was an American actor, comedian and puppeteer. Flowers was best known for the comedy act he created with his puppet Madame. His performances as "Wayland Flowers and Madame" were a major national success on stage and on screen in the 1970s and 1980s. Flowers is frequently cited as a ventriloquist even though he made no effort to conceal that he was voicing his characters. He instead preferred to be called an "illusionist," because onlookers tended to focus their attention on his animated puppets, who seemed to do all the talking. == Early life == Wayland Parrott Flowers Jr. was born November 26, 1939, in Dawson, Georgia, the second of three children. Wayland's father, in the Army, was soon deployed in World War II and was killed in action, leaving Flowers to be raised in a devoutly religious all-female household, save for his younger brother. There was a neighborhood girl with whom he liked to play with dolls; however, this was socially unacceptable for a boy in 1940s Georgia, so he would wrap up the dolls in paper bags, bring them to her house, and they would play with them in her garage.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.