Joby Baker, the veteran actor who starred in the CBS sitcom Good Morning World and appeared alongside Elvis Presley, Jack Lemmon and Goldie Hawn, has died. He was 92.

Baker died June 22 at a hospital in Yonkers, New York, his granddaughter Sofia Silverman told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Montreal-born performer spent decades working in film, television and nightclubs, but later said he always considered himself a painter first.

Baker played Los Angeles radio host Dave Lewis on Good Morning World, which premiered in 1967. Ronnie Schell, who died three weeks before Baker, played his on-air partner Larry Clarke.

The comedy was created by several of the same people behind The Dick Van Dyke Show, including Carl Reiner, Sheldon Leonard, Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.

CBS was searching for a new comedy after The Dick Van Dyke Show ended its five-season run in 1966. Baker later joked that the network had decided he would be Van Dyke’s replacement.

Producers initially wanted to name the series The Joby Baker Show, but Baker strongly objected.

“I went to these guys and I begged them, please, please, don’t call it that,” he recalled in a 2020 interview.

Baker said he feared having his name in the title would place too much pressure on him, especially if the show failed.

“I was shy and nervous about stardom,” he admitted.

Good Morning World was canceled after one season and 26 episodes, but it featured an impressive cast. Julie Parrish played Baker’s onscreen wife, Billy De Wolfe appeared as the radio station manager and Goldie Hawn made her professional acting debut as Parrish’s eccentric friend.

Hawn moved on to Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In soon after the series ended and quickly became a major star.

Baker also built a busy movie career during the 1950s and 1960s.

He played drummer Wilbur in the 1965 Elvis Presley musical Girl Happy, which followed a group of musicians during spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

His character performed in a band with Presley’s Rusty Wells, Gary Crosby’s Andy and Jimmy Hawkins’ Doc.

Baker also appeared with Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man in 1959. The movie marked Muni’s final film role.

A year later, Baker joined Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson in The Wackiest Ship in the Army.

As a contract player for Columbia Pictures, he appeared in all three early Gidget movies. Those films were Gidget, Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gidget Goes to Rome.

He later worked opposite Connie Francis in Looking for Love and When the Boys Meet the Girls. He also played a musicians’ manager in the 1963 musical Hootenanny Hoot.

Baker’s life before Hollywood was just as remarkable.

Born Joseph Baker in Montreal on March 26, 1934, he lost his mother when he was still a toddler. His father, who nicknamed him “Jobela,” later moved the family to Oahu, Hawaii.

Baker was 7 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941.

He narrowly escaped injury after the house where he was staying was struck by friendly fire in the chaos that followed the attack.

Baker and his stepmother soon fled Hawaii aboard the RMS Aquitania, joining thousands of evacuees traveling to San Francisco.

After attending school in New York City, Baker moved to Los Angeles and developed a nightclub act built around comedy and a Jerry Lewis impersonation.

While serving in the U.S. Army, he entertained troops and became connected to comedian Lou Costello.

Baker served with the husband of Costello’s oldest daughter, Paddy, and persuaded the Abbott and Costello star to perform at his military camp.

The two became close friends, and Costello later managed Baker’s early career. Baker said he frequently spent weekends at the comedian’s home in the San Fernando Valley.

Baker was working as an NBC page in Hollywood when he appeared on The Red Skelton Hour in 1952.

He made his film debut three years later in Target Zero, a Korean War drama starring Richard Conte and Charles Bronson.

Television work followed steadily.

Baker appeared on Dragnet, Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, Bachelor Father, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

He also played a young criminal in the 1960 thriller Key Witness and had a recurring role as Pvt. Kelly on Combat!

At the same time, Baker continued working in nightclubs. He opened for Johnny Mathis and performed at the Sahara in Las Vegas before Abbott and Costello took the stage.

His painting career later helped open another major door.

Baker was displaying his work at a gallery on La Cienega Boulevard when author Ray Bradbury walked in and mentioned a play being staged nearby.

Baker was eventually cast as Vamanos in Bradbury’s The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. His energetic, partly improvised performance caught the attention of the producers who later created Good Morning World.

Baker continued acting after the sitcom ended.

He appeared in the Disney films The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, Blackbeard’s Ghost and Superdad. His television credits also included F Troop, Mannix, Medical Center, Quincy M.E. and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

He later became a regular on the short-lived series Stone and The Six O’Clock Follies.

Baker was married four times.

His first marriage was to actress Joan Blackman, from 1959 until their divorce in 1961. He married Joyce Harriet Winter later that year, and they remained together until 1975.

In 1984, he married lyricist, singer, songwriter and poet Dory Previn, the former wife of composer André Previn. They remained married until her death in 2012.

Baker illustrated The Dory Previn Songbook, published in 1995, along with several of her other books.

He is survived by his fourth wife, Megan; his daughters, Ricka and Michelle; his son, Scott; his stepdaughters, Emma and Eliza; and his grandchildren, Sofia, Amelia, Finn, Avery, Zach and Monty.

Despite spending much of his life around famous actors and musicians, Baker never fully embraced celebrity.

“I was not interested in stardom,” he once said. “In fact, I was embarrassed by it. I was the wrong type of person to be an actor.”