Bill Todman

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William S. "Bill" Todman (July 31, 1916 - July 29, 1979) was an American television producer born in New York City.

In the 1940s Todman (original first name Wilbur) 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 honoring military members syndicated by the Treasury Department. They later collaborated in producing game shows for radio, then moved into television, where they produced some of the longest-running game shows in history. Their many shows included Beat the Clock, Family Feud, The Match Game, Password, The Price is Right, To Tell the Truth and What's My Line?. Though both men were co-credited on their series, Todman gradually became less involved with the day-to-day operations and creative process of the company. Todman was the genius behind diversifying Goodson-Todman into the newspaper business and real estate. The television business was lucrative but not nearly so much as the other businesses in which Todman invested, which earned millions. Goodson continued to work on game shows, while Todman expanded the company. The consensus is that Goodson-Todman would never have survived the roller coaster of the television business had Todman not been so brilliant and aggressive in moving the company into other venues.^{[citation needed]}

Goodson-Todman were involved with the 1969 pilot episode of The Joker's Wild along with creator Jack Barry, hosted by Allen Ludden. Goodson-Todman had severed ties with Barry by the time he hosted the series in 1972.

Todman died two days before his 63rd birthday, on July 29, 1979, in New York City as a result of a heart condition. Goodson-Todman game shows that were still running at the time continued to be billed as "Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Production[s]"; the new version of Tattletales, which premiered in 1982, was the first show to be billed as simply "a Mark Goodson television production."

[edit] External links

• Museum of Broadcast Communications: Mark Goodson and Bill Todman
• Bill Todman at the Internet Movie Database
• Find-A-Grave biography