WWW- The rumors that swirled around the abrupt death of “Hollywood Squares” icon Paul Lynde in 1982 have been put to rest by a new book, which reveals that the caustic comic was not found dead in the nude and did not overdose on drugs.

“He wasn’t unclothed,” eyewitness Paul Barresi explains in the book “Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story” by Steve Wilson and Joe Florenski. “He had on his PJs, and he had his robe on.”

Barresi, a private eye and close friend of Lynde’s, discovered the comic’s body in his home after the comedian had not been seen for two days.

Lynde, who may be best remembered by children as the voice of Templeton the Rat in “Charlotte’s Web,” had a secret life that involved recreational drugs and male prostitutes, the book alleges. But these vices were not connected to his death, which came from a heart attack at age 55. His autopsy found only a small amount of a sexual stimulant in his bloodstream, and there was no evidence of sexual activity.

Lynde inspired love and loathing in Hollywood, according to the book. When Ellen DeGeneres occupied his center box on the new version of “Squares,” she decorated her cube with a picture of him. On the flip side, legend has it that when Lynde died, one of his favorite targets, Elizabeth Taylor, threw a party.