Ralph Edwards

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Ralph Livingstone Edwards (January 13, 1913 – November 16, 2005) was a television host and producer.

Born in Merino, Colorado, Edwards began his career as a radio announcer while a student at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a B.A. in English in 1935. [1] In 1940, Edwards created the game show Truth or Consequences, which aired for 38 years on radio and television. Edwards produced dozens of game shows, including About Faces, Knockout, Place the Face, It Could Be You, Name That Tune (1970's version), and The Cross-Wits. He also hosted and produced This Is Your Life. In 1981, with Stu Billett, he created The People's Court, the first program of its type.

During a May 22, 1948, broadcast of his national radio show Truth or Consequences, Edwards interviewed a young cancer patient in Boston who loved baseball and dreamed of having a television to watch his favorite team, the Boston Braves, then the city's National League ball club. At the end of the broadcast, Edwards asked listeners from his studio in Hollywood to donate money for cancer research, as well as to buy a TV for the boy, whom he called "Jimmy" to protect his privacy. "Let's make Jimmy and thousands of other boys and girls happy who are suffering from cancer by aiding the research to help find a cure for cancer in children," Edwards said on the show. By the end of the week, $20,000 in donations were made to "Jimmy" and the fund was born. It was the Braves' favored charity until their move in 1953 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and since then, the Jimmy Fund has been picked up by the Boston Red Sox.

Ever the mentor, Edwards burnished the career of another quiz-show legend -- his protege, Bob Barker. The TV version of Truth or Consequences had featured Edwards, Jack Bailey and Steve Dunne in the 1940s and 50s. When the show returned for another NBC run in late 1956, Edwards enlisted Barker, a popular West Coast radio and TV personality. During the 2001 Daytime Emmy Awards, Barker told backstage reporters Edwards told him to be no one else but himself.

Barker would host Truth 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 onward. As a result, thanks to Edwards's "be yourself" admonition, Barker became as familiar with a generation of Truth and Price viewers as earlier fans had with Edwards and original Price host Bill Cullen during the original versions of the shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

Edwards died of heart failure in Los Angeles, California, at age 92.

The Game Show Congress, a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote the game show industry, 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, Gary, accepted the first of these awards on behalf of his father.

[edit] Fact

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico was named after Edwards' most popular game show. The city in southern New Mexico features several public parks and facilities that bear his name.
Until his death, Edwards had lunch with Bob Barker every December 21st.