Bill Todman

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Bill Todman
Todman at left with Mark Goodson and Johnny Roventini for the radio version of What's My Line? in 1952.
Born	William Selden Todman (1916-07-31)July 31, 1916 New York City, US
Died	July 29, 1979(1979-07-29) (aged 62) New York City, US
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins University (B.A.)[1]
Occupation	Television producer
Years active	1948–1979
Known for	TV game shows and Goodson-Todman Productions
Spouse	Frances Holmes Burson ​ ​ (m. 1950)​
Children	2; including Bill Todman Jr.

William Selden Todman (July 31, 1916 – July 29, 1979) was an American television producer and personality born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest-running shows with business partner Mark Goodson, with whom he created Goodson-Todman Productions.

Early life

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Todman was the son of a

Game shows

Todman teamed up with Mark Goodson for radio shows. According to radio historian J. David Goldin, among their early work together was the show Treasury Salute, a program syndicated by the Treasury Department that honored military members. They later collaborated in producing

Although both men created the programs, Todman gradually became less involved with the day-to-day operations of the game-show business and moved Goodson-Todman into a bigger business strategy. Todman was responsible for diversifying Goodson-Todman into the newspaper, radio station, and real estate businesses. The television business was lucrative, but not nearly as much as the other businesses in which Todman invested, which earned millions. Goodson continued to work on game shows, while Todman expanded the company. Goodson-Todman likely would never have survived the roller coaster of the television business, including the slow period for game shows in the late 1960s, had Todman not been aggressive in expanding the company into other ventures.^[citation needed]

Death

Todman died on July 29, 1979, two days before his 63rd birthday, in New York City as a result of a heart condition. He was survived by his wife

Goodson-Todman game shows that were still running at the time continued to be billed as "A Mark Goodson — Bill Todman Production". In the early 1980s, Mark Goodson acquired the Todman heirs' share of the company. Child's Play, which premiered in 1982, was the first show to be billed as simply "A Mark Goodson Television Production".^{[citation needed]} The Goodson-Todman library of game shows is now part of FremantleMedia.

Legacy

• Todman was inducted into the
  Television Academy Hall of Fame
  in 2011.

References

External links

• Museum of Broadcast Communications: Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, museum.tv; accessed January 16, 2016
• Notice of death of Bill Todman, news.google.com; accessed January 16, 2016
• Bill Todman at
  IMDb
• Bill Todman at Find a Grave

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bill Todman.