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Show r . , ' a ' . ,;t ' . - , ; - ' w. s ; '" ' . ' . " . ,. ! - v ' ' : - '-iy - ly ' - 1 : :s ' (- t x ; - ' - -;.,..m, . ... v .,. " . .; rr h iw -'I - I , -r - ' -n- - - - in - - ""'"J" ? Sto(W((' . afe ....... I's,,, tom,, & .miim.iurirxmmmtm,. bJ Comer Pyle oh no! Were Sgt. Carter Carter still around, that's probably about the only words he'd be able to say if he ran into this marine, although actually, his family and friends call him Bob ii..... I I'M II. By WANDA LLND Special Writer CLEARFIELD -- Bob Horn, 133 S. 450 East, has often been told he resembles Jim Nabors, the television star who depicted "Gomer Pyle" in a long-lasting series. JUDGES AT the recent celebrity look-alike competition at the Utah State Fair thought so too. They awarded him a second place in the contest sponsored by Radio Station KRGO and Pacific Southwest Airlines. He brought home $50 and a silver plate commemorating the event. The first time he entered the contest, two years ago, he garnered fourth place. "I'M 39 NOW, II years younger than Jim Nabors," Mr. Horn said, "but I realized that I looked like him while I was still going to high school in Pacific Junction, Iowa. I have been called 'Gomer' since Jim Nabors' series first came out." Both men are just under six feet tall, and both have dark hair and eyes. "I HAD THE opportunity to meet Jim Nabors about five years ago when he was appearing at the Utah State Fair," Mr. Horn said. "I went backstage after his concert was over, and talked to his manager. I told him that I was often mistaken for Jim Nabors and that I : would like to meet him." "You wait right here," the manager told him. "I want Jim to meet you." "WHEN WE first met each other, we just stood and stared," Mr. Horn recalled. "I really real-ly didn't realize how much I resembled him until I met him. I wish we had been photographed photo-graphed together-it would have been like identical iden-tical twins." Mr. Horn wore a military uniform for the look-alike contest. "ONE LITTLE girl came up to me and said, 'Are you him?" I gave her a big 'Goll-eee!' and a couple of 'Shazams', and she said, 'It really is you.' "I excused myself and walked away. I didn't tell her her I was. and I didn't tell her I wasn't. I have experiences like that all the time, and once Jim Nabors was even mistaken for me." THAT HAPPENED when Mr. Horn was working as a route salesman in the Sun Valley-Ketchum Valley-Ketchum area in Idaho. Jim Nabors walked into a delicatessen in the area, and the clerk handed him a prepared order. "What is this for?" Mr. Nabors asked. "IT'S YOUR order," the clerk responded. "Do you know who I am?" Mr. Nabors questioned. "YES, YOU'RE Bob Horn," the clerk said. "No, I'm not. I'm Jim Nabors," the actor told her. ANOTHER TIME, Mr. Horn was shopping in a shoe store with his wife, Christine. "I noticed a clerk checking us out," Mr. Horn said. "I wondered if he thought we were shoplifters or something, but as I was getting ready to leave, the clerk said, 'We were just wondering what Jim Nabors was doing in Pay-less Pay-less Shoes'." "SOMETIMES, WHEN something like that happens, Ijust say, 'S'prise, s'prise, s'prise' or 'Goll-eee'!" he said. "While I was at the State Fair the other day, two people asked me why I was in town. Ijust said I was here visiting the fair." ONE OF the major differences between Bob Horn and Jim Nabors is that Nabors can sing. - "But I'm working on that," Mr. Horn confides. con-fides. "My wife, Chris, is trying to teach me. She has all kinds of talent, can play the piano by ear and has been dancing for 16 years. I can pantomime to his records, but I really need to learn about music and how to sing." HE HAD A taste of what movie making was three years ago when he was a movie extra in the production of "Bronco Billy" with Clint Eastwood. He played the part of a inmate in an institution for the criminally insane. "I didn't realize what went into making movies until then," he said. "They told us they shot over 239,000 feet of film, but they kept only 90,000 feet." AFTER HE appeared in the movie, a weekly newspaper in Glenwood, Iowa ran a feature article about him. Gary Davis, a member of the combo that plays for Nabors, saw the article and the picture of Horn that accompanied it. "He used to live in that area, so he went over and visited my mother there," Mr. Horn said. "I had worked for him and his mother on their farm when I was young. He told my mother that he knew there was someone he used to know that looked like Jim Nabors, but he couldn't remember who it was until he saw the article. MR. HORN is a salesman and co-owner of the Intermountain Cash Register store in Ogden, where he has worked for the past three years. He is also a member of the 419th Civil Engineering Squadron, Air Force Reserve, where he serves as a work load control technician. techni-cian. "My buddies down there are always calling me 'Gomer'," he said. |