He began as an office boy, worked in the publicity department of Pine-Thomas Productions, the second feature unit of Paramount,[3] and eventually became assistant to the producer on The Mountain, released in 1954.

His first role as full producer was on James Cagney's sole directorial effort, the 1957 Short Cut to Hell (a remake of the 1941 noir classic This Gun for Hire).

He also produced nine episodes of the television show Rawhide then the Korean War film The Young and the Brave for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In an interview with Alex Simon and Donald Keith, Lyles recalled he was approached by Paramount to do a Western when they realized they had none on their schedule of releases.

Lyles continued to produce a variety of low-budget traditional Westerns for Paramount in the 1960s, as well as other movies in other genres, such as the detective drama Rogue's Gallery in 1968, and the science-fiction film Night of the Lepus, for MGM, that featured the American Southwest menaced by giant mutant rabbits.