Jim Perry (television personality)
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Jim Perry | |
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$ale of the Century | |
Spouse |
June Perry (m. 1959–2015) |
Children | 2 |
Jim Perry (November 9, 1933 – November 20, 2015) was an American-Canadian television game show host,[1] singer, announcer, and performer in the 1970s and 1980s.
Perry enjoyed success on both Canadian and American television. He was the host of the American game shows
Early career
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Perry was born James Edward Dooley[2] in Camden, New Jersey. His mother, Genevieve Perry, was a record-holding swimmer, as well as a known marathon dancer. His father, Edward Dooley, was a musician. While briefly attending Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California, Perry was an outstanding basketball player thanks in part to his height (at 6'4" or 193 cm); he graduated in 1952. He was often nicknamed "Big Jim" because of his height.
Perry started out as a singer in
His first appearance as a TV host came in Canada with the popular game show Fractured Phrases (1965). Afterwards he presided over several other game shows, including Eye Bet and The Money Makers (also called Bingo at Home), the latter also airing on syndicated television in some US markets for 13 weeks in 1969. Although Perry was American by birth, he and his family emigrated to Canada in the early 1970s and moved back to the U.S. in the late 1970s when he was hired to host Card Sharks.[citation needed]
Perry also served as an announcer for That Show starring
Perry presided as emcee of the annual Miss Canada Pageant, a job he held from 1967 until 1990, about the same length of time his U.S. counterpart Bob Barker presided over the Miss USA Pageant on CBS. Like Bert Parks in the United States, Perry, a talented singer, would sing the pageant's closing song, The Fairest Girl in Canada soon after the new Miss Canada was crowned. This practice, however, ended in the 1980s. Again, Dave Devall worked alongside Perry as the pageant's off-screen announcer. While hosting the 1975 Miss Canada pageant, during a commercial break, a female protester hit Perry with a packet of flour while on camera, claiming that the pageant was sexist. Perry, though shaken from the incident, regained his composure and continued on with the broadcast.
Perry's first major American network hosting tenure came in 1967, with a short-lived
Stardom as an emcee
His biggest break in the United States came in 1978 when NBC and Mark Goodson–Bill Todman Productions cast him for their new show Card Sharks. Perry hosted the entire NBC version and the two pilots that preceded the series, airing from April 24, 1978, until October 23, 1981. This series helped Perry begin a long association with NBC, lasting more than a decade. Perry was twice considered as host for the daytime and the nighttime revival of Card Sharks in 1986, but due to his commitments with NBC and CTV, the daytime version aired on CBS and was given to Bob Eubanks, and the nighttime version was hosted by Bill Rafferty.
In 1982,
His style and sensational salesmanship helped to make the show a big hit for the network in the last golden era of game shows, and made Perry one of the top game show personalities of the 1980s in the United States. Not forgetting the time he spent with Sid Caesar, Perry would often tell jokes related to some of the questions asked on $ale. During his tenure at NBC, Perry appeared in the made-for-TV movie The Great American Traffic Jam (1980) along with fellow game show hosts Wink Martindale, Jack Clark, and Art James.
Perry hosted approximately ten different game shows (including unsold pilots) in a career that spanned about 25 years. He was also involved in charitable causes, both in Southern California and Canada, and was a regular host of the annual Telemiracle telethon in Saskatchewan for many years in support of the Kinsmen Clubs in that province. His daughter Erin also appeared on several of these telethons, and on one occasion they performed a song together.
Retirement
Perry retired in 1990. In later years he authored two
In 1994, Perry hosted a pilot for a lottery game show titled Cash Tornado for
Personal life
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Perry met his wife June during his time at Grossingers. She later became a top model with the Eileen Ford agency and later, and during their time in Canada, ran her own gallery business as well. She operated her own pottery and gallery, Shambhala Pottery in Bakersville, North Carolina.[2] The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 29, 2009.
Their son, Sean Perry, is a television producer and was a partner in Endeavor, a
Following retirement, Jim and June Perry made Oregon and North Carolina their homes with Ashland, Oregon, being their final residence.
Death
In 2010, Perry was diagnosed with cancer. He died from the disease on November 20, 2015, less than two weeks after his 82nd birthday.[4][5]
References
- ISBN 978-0-8118-6370-4. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 9780786429264. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
- ^ Martindale, Wink. "Cash Tornado Sizzle Reel". Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Jim Perry dies at 82; host of 'Card Sharks' and other TV game shows". Los Angeles Times. November 25, 2015.
- ^ "Jim Perry, game show 'king', dies at 82". CTV News. November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
External links
- Jim Perry at IMDb
- IMDB entry for Erin Perry