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Gene Rayburn
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{{Short description|American radio and television personality (1917–1999)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Gene Rayburn | image = Gene Rayburn the match game.jpg | caption = Rayburn hosting the ''[[Match Game]]'' in 1964 | birth_name = Eugene Peter Jeljenic | birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|12|22}} | birth_place = [[Christopher, Illinois]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|11|29|1917|12|22}}| | death_place = [[Gloucester, Massachusetts]], U.S. | occupation = Game show host, announcer, actor | years_active = 1937–1999 | spouse = {{marriage|Helen Ticknor|1940|1996|end=died}} | children = 1 | known_for = ''[[Match Game]]'' | awards = ''[[Lifetime Achievement Award]]'' from the [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] | module = {{Infobox military person |embed = yes |caption = Major James Stewart in 1943 |allegiance = {{flag|United States}} |branch = [[File:US Army Air Corps Hap Arnold Wings.svg|23px]] [[United States Army Air Forces]] |serviceyears = 1942–1945 |rank = [[File:US-O1 insignia.svg|8px]] [[Second Lieutenant]] |commands = |unit = |battles = [[World War II]]}} }} '''Gene Rayburn''' (born '''Eugene Peter Jeljenic''';<ref>{{cite book| title=The Matchless Gene Rayburn| publisher=Bear Manor Media| location=Albany, Georgia| year=2015| isbn=978-1-59-393865-9| first=Adam| last=Nedeff}}</ref> December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show ''[[Match Game]]'' for over two decades. ==Early life== Rayburn was born in [[Christopher, Illinois]], the younger of two children of Croatian immigrants Mary A. Hikec (August 14, 1897 – April 29, 1985<!-- born in Susak, Austrian Littoral -->) and Peter Pero Jeljenić (January 17, 1887 – December 26, 1918<!-- born in Topolo, Kingdom of Dalmatia -->). In an episode of ''Match Game ‘74'', Rayburn spoke [[Serbo-Croatian]] with a contestant, mentioning that his parents were born in what was then [[Yugoslavia]]. His father died when Rayburn was an infant. Mary moved her family to Chicago, where she met Milan Rubessa. After she married Rubessa on November 10, 1919, Rayburn took the name '''Eugene Rubessa''' ({{IPAc-en|r|uː|ˈ|b|eɪ|ʃ|ə}}).<ref>{{cite news|last=Clothier|first=Gary Lee|title=Mr. Know-It-All: '18 Wheels of Justice' series|newspaper=Daily Breeze|date=August 11, 2009}}</ref> He had an elder brother, Alfred, who was killed when Rayburn was a child and a younger half-brother, Milan Rubessa Jr. Rayburn graduated from [[Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy|Lindblom Technical High School]] and attended [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]]. At Lindblom, he was senior class president and acted in the plays ''Robert of Sicily'' and ''[[Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch]]''.<ref>Lindblom Technical High School, Class yearbook January 1936</ref> An aspiring actor and [[opera]] singer, Rayburn moved to [[New York City]] but was unable to find stage work. He found a job as a [[NBC page|page]] and tour guide at NBC studios at [[30 Rockefeller Plaza]] instead.<ref name = Woo/> After three years in that position, Rayburn began announcing at various radio stations, eventually landing back in New York at [[WBBR|WNEW]]. He enlisted in the [[United States Army Air Forces]] and served in World War II. Gene chose the stage name "Rayburn" by randomly sticking his finger in the phone book.<ref name="Times">{{cite news| last=Severo| first=Richard| title=Gene Rayburn, 81, Longtime TV Host of 'The Match Game'| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/04/arts/gene-rayburn-81-longtime-tv-host-of-the-match-game.html| date=December 4, 1999| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| access-date=October 11, 2017| url-access=limited}}</ref> ==Career== ===Radio career=== [[File:Gene Rayburn Dee Finch 1951.JPG|thumb|left|Rayburn and Finch, 1951]] Before appearing in television, Rayburn was an actor and radio performer. He had a morning [[drive time]] radio show in New York City, first with [[Jack Lescoulie]] (''Anything Goes'') and later with Dee Finch (''Rayburn & Finch'') on WNEW. Rayburn's pairings with Lescoulie and Finch helped to popularize the now-familiar morning drive radio format.<ref name="Times"/> At WNEW, he lobbied for playing of certain songs, resulting in chart popularity (e.g. "[[Music! Music! Music!]]" (recorded by [[Teresa Brewer]])) and co-authored the lyrics of the song "[[Hop-Scotch Polka]]" with [[Carl Sigman]] (both 1949).<ref>{{cite web |title=Gene Rayburn: Hop-Scotch Polka |website=musicroom.com |url=https://www.musicroom.com/product/dam164694/gene-rayburn-hop-scotch-polka.aspx |access-date=2021-07-13}}</ref> When Rayburn left WNEW, Dee Finch continued the format with [[Gene Klavan]]. === Stage career === Rayburn took the lead role in the Broadway musical ''[[Bye Bye Birdie (musical)|Bye Bye Birdie]]'' when Dick Van Dyke left the production to star in ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]''. At one point in his stage career, Rayburn's stand-in was future ''[[Match Game]]'' panelist [[Charles Nelson Reilly]].<ref>{{cite news| first=Alonso| last=Duralde| title=Charles in Charge| magazine=[[The Advocate (magazine)|The Advocate]]| issue=848| date=October 9, 2001| page=53| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53}}</ref> ===Television career=== Breaking into television as the original announcer on [[Steve Allen]]'s ''[[Tonight Starring Steve Allen|Tonight]]'', Rayburn began a long association with game show producers [[Mark Goodson]] and [[Bill Todman]] in 1953. He first appeared on [[Robert Q. Lewis]]'s ''[[The Name's the Same]]''; Rayburn frequently sat in for regular panelist [[Carl Reiner]]. In 1955, he took over as host of the summer replacement game show ''[[Make the Connection]]'' from original host [[Jim McKay]] (and appearing with his WNEW morning show successor [[Gene Klavan]]). From there he hosted shows such as ''[[Choose Up Sides]]'', ''[[Dough Re Mi]]'', ''[[Play Your Hunch]]'', and the daytime version of ''[[Tic Tac Dough]]''. On radio, Rayburn became one of the many hosts of the [[NBC]] program ''[[Monitor (NBC Radio)|Monitor]]'' in 1961 and remained with the show until 1973.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} In an uncredited role (he reportedly did not want his name to appear), Rayburn played a TV interviewer in the movie ''[[It Happened to Jane]]'' (1959) starring [[Doris Day]]. Rayburn was also a frequent panelist in the 1960s and 1970s on ''[[What's My Line?]]'' and ''[[To Tell the Truth]]''.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} ===''Match Game''=== {{main|Match Game}} [[Image:Gene Rayburn on MG76.jpg|thumb|left|275px|Rayburn on the set of ''Match Game 76'']] From 1962 to 1969, Rayburn hosted ''[[The Match Game]]''. In the original version, which aired from New York on NBC, Rayburn read questions to two panels, each consisting of a celebrity and two audience members. The questions in the original game were ordinary, like "Name a kind of muffin," or "John loves his ____________."{{citation needed| date=December 2021| reason=Prove this was used or if it's an illustration}} Rayburn usually played it straight, though he would make jokes as the situation warranted. Very few episodes have been preserved; only four are known to exist. The show was canceled in 1969 to make room for the topical, short-lived game show ''[[Letters to Laugh-In]]''. Goodson-Todman revived ''Match Game'' in 1973 for CBS, this time as a California-based game show. Rayburn returned as host and introduced a new format in which two contestants tried to match the responses of six celebrities. Writer [[Dick DeBartolo]], a veteran of the original show, created funnier and often risqué questions ("The big bad wolf said: I just came from a house where this old lady had the biggest ____________s I ever saw.")("After it was run over by a steamroller, Norman was able to slide his ____________ under the door.")<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=635180269002183|title=Match Game Episode 158 - 1974|access-date=March 18, 2025}}</ref> Rayburn reveled in this freewheeling new approach and often indulged in funny voices, banter with the celebrities, and mock arguments with the technical crew. It soon became the highest-rated show on daytime television.<ref>{{cite book| last=Skutch| first=Ira| title=I Remember Television: A Memoir| page=224| publisher=Scarecrow Press| edition=1st| date=January 1, 1990| isbn=978-0-8108-2271-9| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WjLfn9sylgC&q=highest+rated+show|url-access=subscription}}</ref> From 1973 to 1977, ''Match Game'' was number one among all daytime network game shows—three of those years it was the highest rated of all daytime shows. The daytime revival of ''Match Game'', which featured regular panelists [[Richard Dawson]], [[Brett Somers]], and [[Charles Nelson Reilly]], ran until 1979 on CBS and another three years in first-run syndication. A concurrent nighttime version, ''Match Game PM'', aired in syndication from 1975 to 1981. Rayburn was nominated three times for the [[Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host]]. During the years when ''Match Game'' was taped in Los Angeles (1973–1982), Rayburn lived in [[Osterville, Massachusetts]] on Cape Cod. He commuted to California every two weeks to tape 12 shows over the course of a weekend (five daytime shows and one nighttime show per taping day).<ref name="Times"/> In 1983, a year after the syndicated ''Match Game'' ended, the show was revived as part of the ''[[Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour]]''. Rayburn hosted the ''Match Game'' and "Super Match" segments and sat on the panel for the ''[[Hollywood Squares]]'' segment, which was hosted by [[Jon Bauman]]. This show lasted nine months on NBC. Rayburn, by most accounts, was disappointed with how the show turned out.<ref name=behindtheblank>{{cite AV media| title=The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank| publisher=Game Show Network| medium=TV Production| date=November 26, 2006| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJHICKg2Mkg&ab_channel=CHiggins| via=YouTube}}</ref> ===Other game shows and television appearances=== [[File:Dennis Weaver Gene Rayburn Michael Landon Match Game 1964.JPG|thumb|right|With [[Dennis Weaver]] and [[Michael Landon]] during a 1964 ''Match Game'' episode]] During and between his ''Match Game'' years, Rayburn served as guest panelist on two other Goodson-Todman shows: ''[[What's My Line?]]'' and ''[[To Tell the Truth]]''. Also during the run of the 1970s ''Match Game'', Rayburn and his wife Helen appeared on the game show ''[[Tattletales]]'', hosted by [[Bert Convy]]. Rayburn also hosted some episodes of ''Tattletales''. Three years after the original ''Match Game'' was canceled, Rayburn hosted the short-lived [[Heatter-Quigley Productions]] show ''[[The Amateur's Guide to Love]]''. In 1983, he hosted a pilot for [[Reg Grundy Productions]] titled ''Party Line'', which later became ''[[Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak]]''. In 1980, Rayburn was a guest star on the television show ''[[The Love Boat]]''. Rayburn appeared as a contestant during a tournament of game show hosts on the original version of ''[[Card Sharks]]'' in 1980 and was a celebrity guest on ''[[Password Plus]]'' several times between 1980 and 1982. He appeared on ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' as a game show host—he and another host, played by [[Jan Murray]], were game show rivals who vied to win the woman they both loved by creating the ultimate game show, with life-or-death consequences. He once hosted a local New York City show on [[WNYW|WNEW-TV]], ''Helluva Town'', and between game show stints in 1982–1983, he returned to WNEW-TV as host of a weekly talk and lifestyles show titled ''Saturday Morning Live''. He ended his brief tenure to return as co-host of ''Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour''.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} Rayburn's last game show hosting duties were on 1985's ''[[Break the Bank (1985)|Break the Bank]]'' (he was replaced by [[Joe Farago]] after 13 weeks), and ''[[The Movie Masters]]'', an [[American Movie Classics|AMC]] game show that ran from 1989 to 1990.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} Just before production was to begin on a new Rayburn-emceed ''Match Game'' revival in 1987,<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine=Broadcasting & Cable| date=January 19, 1987| volume=112| issue=3| pages=108–109| title='Match Game' advertisement| url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1987/BC-1987-01-19.pdf| access-date=April 29, 2023}}</ref> an ''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'' reporter publicly disclosed that Rayburn was 69 years old, much older than many believed. Rayburn had trouble finding jobs after that, blaming the reporter for revealing his age and subjecting him to [[ageism|age discrimination]].<ref name= Woo/> His daughter Lynne blamed this and the subsequent lack of work he received for sending him into a downward spiral.<ref name=behindtheblank/> Rayburn portrayed himself on a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch in 1990, which featured [[Susan Lucci]] (as her character from ''[[All My Children]]'', [[Erica Kane]]). He returned as one of Kane's many previous husbands, to stop another marriage (officiated by his old ''[[Choose Up Sides]]'' co-star [[Don Pardo]]) with the host of a game show portrayed by [[Phil Hartman]]. He also continued to make appearances on talk shows throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, usually to discuss classic game shows, including appearances on ''[[Vicki Lawrence|Vicki!]]'' and ''[[Maury (TV series)|The Maury Povich Show]]'' and ''[[The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show with Ross Shafer]]'' (Shafer hosted the 1990 ''Match Game'' revival). In 1992, Rayburn also made an appearance on New York shock jock [[Howard Stern]]'s [[The Howard Stern Show (WWOR)|late-night TV variety show]] as one of the stars of his ''Hollywood Squares'' parody, ''Homeless Howiewood Squares'', in which homeless people were supposedly the contestants.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} Rayburn co-hosted—with his wife and Peter Emmons—the [[Drum Corps International]] finals of the DCI Championship for two years, which were telecast on PBS from Philadelphia's [[Franklin Field]] in 1976 and Denver's original [[Mile High Stadium]] in 1977.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} ==Personal life and death== Rayburn was married to Helen Ticknor from 1940 until her death in October 1996. They had one child, daughter Lynne. One of Rayburn's last TV appearances was a 1998 interview with ''[[Access Hollywood]]'' intended to coincide with the 25th anniversary of ''Match Game '73''. Portions of the interview have been rebroadcast on [[Game Show Network]], which in 2001 showed portions of another previously unaired interview during the first airing of its ''Match Game Blankathon''.<ref name=behindtheblank/> Rayburn identified as a [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]] politically<ref>{{cite news| last=Bump| first=Philip| date=September 16, 2015| title=Lots of game show hosts are outspoken conservatives. But why?| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/16/why-do-game-show-hosts-lean-republican/| access-date=August 13, 2020| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> and was a supporter of [[Planned Parenthood]]. Rayburn was also concerned that [[human overpopulation]] would become a problem in the 21st century and that it would become more difficult to supply resources such as food if the population grew too large. He expressed these concerns when he appeared on Game Show Hosts week on ''[[Card Sharks]]'' in 1980, where he played for Planned Parenthood as his favorite charity. Rayburn enjoyed needlepoint and did it regularly on his many flights to and from California. He took it up when he knitted socks as a gag on ''Rayburn and Finch.'' Mark Goodson presented him with a needlepoint kit on the air as a gift when ''Match Game'' became the number one show on daytime television. Though in poor health and suffering from dementia,<ref name=behindtheblank/> Rayburn appeared in person to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]]. A month later, on November 29, 1999, he died of [[heart failure]] at his daughter's home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, at age 81.<ref name=Woo>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-03-mn-40153-story.html| last=Woo| first=Elaine| title=Gene Rayburn; Hosted Television's 'Match Game'| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]| date=December 3, 1999 |access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref> He was cremated and his ashes spread in the garden of his daughter's home. Rayburn's final TV appearance was in an interview for the ''[[A&E Biography]]'' episode profiling the life of his longtime boss Mark Goodson; though taped in late 1999, the episode did not air until June 4, 2000, over six months after Rayburn had died. ==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1959|| ''[[It Happened to Jane]]'' || Himself – WTIC-TV Reporter || Uncredited |- |1979–1982|| '' [[The Love Boat]]'' || Mason Randolph/Lyle/George Finley |3 episodes<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Love Boat series regulars and episode guide |url=https://www.ultimate70s.com/actor/-/The_Love_Boat/611 |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=www.ultimate70s.com}}</ref> |} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{commons category}} * {{IMDb name|name=Gene Rayburn|id=0713073}} * {{IBDB name}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20141217055552/http://www.monitorbeacon.net/sounddownloads.html Rayburn hosts NBC Monitor radio program (audio files)] {{S-start}} {{s-media}} {{s-bef|before=None}} {{s-ttl|title=''[[Match Game]]'' host|years=1962–1969, 1973–1982, 1983–1984}} {{s-aft|after=[[Ross Shafer]]}} {{s-bef|before=[[Merv Griffin]]}} {{s-ttl|title=''[[Play Your Hunch]]'' host|years=1962}} {{s-aft|after=[[Robert Q. Lewis]]}} {{s-bef|before=[[Jack Barry (television personality)|Jack Barry]]}} {{s-ttl|title=''[[Tic Tac Dough]]'' host<br><small>Concurrent with [[Jay Jackson (announcer)|Jay Jackson]] and Win Elliot</small>|years=1956–1958}} {{s-aft|after=[[Bill Wendell]]}} {{s-bef|before=None}} {{s-ttl|title=''[[The Tonight Show]]'' announcer/sidekick|years=1954–1957}} {{s-aft|after=[[Franklin Pangborn]]}} {{S-end}} {{Portal bar|Biography|United States|Illinois|radio|theatre|television}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rayburn, Gene}} [[Category:1917 births]] [[Category:1999 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American male actors]] [[Category:20th-century American male singers]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]] [[Category:American game show hosts]] [[Category:American male musical theatre actors]] [[Category:American male stage actors]] [[Category:American people of Croatian descent]] [[Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States]] [[Category:Knox College (Illinois) alumni]] [[Category:Male actors from Chicago]] [[Category:Military personnel from Illinois]] [[Category:People from Christopher, Illinois]] [[Category:Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy alumni]] [[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]
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