Ralph Edwards

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This article is about American radio and television host and producer. For other people named Ralph Edwards, see Ralph Edwards (disambiguation).
Ralph Edwards
Los Angeles, California
, U.S.
Occupations
  • Radio host
  • television host
  • radio producer
  • television producer
Spouse
Barbara Jean Sheldon
​
​
(m. 1939; died 1993)​
Children3
Websitehttp://www.ralphedwards.com
Edwards and family, 1952

Ralph Livingstone Edwards (June 13, 1913

television host, radio producer, and television producer, best known for his radio-TV game shows Truth or Consequences and reality documentary series This Is Your Life
.

Early career

Edwards worked for KROW Radio in

KFRC and then hitchhiked across the country to New York City,[1] where, he said, "I ate ten-cent (equivalent to $2 in 2023),[4] meals and slept on park benches".[5]

After some part-time announcing jobs, he got his big break in 1938 with a full-time job for the

Andre Baruch
.

The young director had an assured, professional manner, and in a few years he was well established as a nationally famous announcer. It was Edwards who introduced

20th Century Fox hired him to narrate the coming-attractions trailers for Laurel and Hardy movies.[6]

Edwards was the second host of the NBC radio children's talent show The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour. He appeared in a few films, including Radio Stars On Parade with the comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney, and I'll Cry Tomorrow with Susan Hayward.[citation needed]

Truth or Consequences

Edwards with Buff Cobb on a 1949 stunt of Truth or Consequences.

After years of experimental broadcasts, the Federal Communications Commission approved commercial television broadcasts starting on July 1, 1941, and NBC's New York station WNBT (now WNBC) was the first to make the changeover, with Edwards hosting a one-time episode of Truth or Consequences over WNBT to commemorate the first day of commercial telecasting.[7]

The show was originally based in New York, with Mel Allen as announcer, but later moved to Los Angeles. After the U.S. entered World War II in late 1941, causing early television broadcasts to be cut back dramatically, its radio run started on CBS (home network to both Edwards and Allen), then moved to NBC.[citation needed]

Edwards and the Truth or Consequences radio show were featured in a Superman story in Action Comics #127 (December 1948).[citation needed]

This Is Your Life

This is Your Life NBC-TV ad in The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook, 1955

In 1948 Edwards created, produced, and hosted

PSA
where McGruff himself was the subject, featuring clips from past PSAs.

Other works

Edwards produced dozens of game shows, including

Suspense "Ghost Hunt" (based on H. Russell Wakefield's story from the 25th anniversary issue of Weird Tales) in 1949.[citation needed
]


Bob Barker

Edwards furthered the career of another game show host, his protégé Bob Barker.[9] The 1940s-1950s TV version of Truth or Consequences had featured Edwards, Jack Bailey, and Steve Dunne. When the show returned for another NBC run in late 1956, Edwards hired Barker, a popular West Coast radio personality, on December 21 after hearing his radio show on his car radio. During the 2001 Daytime Emmy Awards, Barker told backstage reporters that his lifelong friend Edwards told him to be no one else but himself.

Barker would host Truth or Consequences on NBC until 1965, and later in daily syndication until 1975, by which time he had also taken over a revival of

The Price Is Right on CBS from 1972 to 2007 (Drew Carey has been the host since 2007). As a result, thanks to Edwards's "be yourself" admonition, Barker became as familiar with a generation of Truth or Consequences and Price Is Right viewers, as earlier fans had with Edwards and original Price Is Right host Bill Cullen
during the original versions of the shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

Death

Edwards died of

Los Angeles, California at the age of 92.[10] Shortly before his death he released a selection of his This Is Your Life programs on DVD
.

Recognition

The Game Show Congress annually presents the Ralph Edwards Service Award, for those within the game show community who have worked tirelessly for charitable causes. In 2004, Edwards' son accepted the first of these awards on behalf of his father.[citation needed]

For his contribution to the radio and television industries, Ralph Edwards has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6116 Hollywood Boulevard (radio) and 6262 Hollywood Boulevard (television). Both were dedicated February 8, 1960.[11]

Edwards was inducted into the

National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.[12]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1937 Manhattan Merry-Go-Round Radio Man Uncredited
1942 Seven Days' Leave Himself
1945 Radio Stars on Parade Himself
1946 The Bamboo Blonde Eddie Clark
1947 Beat the Band Eddie Martin
1955 I'll Cry Tomorrow Himself Uncredited

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2
    . Pp. 86-87.
  2. National Radio Hall of Fame
  3. ISBN 978-0-7864-6086-1
    . Pp. 88-89.
  4. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  5. ^ Current Biography 1943, pp192-94
  6. ISBN 978-1440172397
    ; first edition: Lanham, Maryland: Vestal Press, 1998.
  7. ^ a b www.legacy.com
  8. ^ "Feldman Ankles L-T For Producer Post At Edwards/Billett". Variety. 1986-12-31. pp. 32, 50.
  9. ^ articles.latimes.com
  10. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2005-11-16). "Pioneer TV Host Ralph Edwards Dies at 92". People. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  11. ^ "Ralph Edwards". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  12. ^ "Ralph Edwards". National Radio Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 January 2016.

5. http://www.legacy.com/NS/Obituary.aspx?pid=15684060

External links

Preceded by
Originator
 Truth or Consequences Host (radio)
1940–1957 		Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Originator
 Truth or Consequences Host (television)
1950–1954 		Succeeded by
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