Hugh Downs

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Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs 1972.JPG
Hugh Downs in 1972
Born
Hugh Malcolm Downs

(1921-02-14) February 14, 1921 (age 99)
Akron, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationTelevision broadcaster, host, producer, author
Years active1945–1999
Spouse(s)
Ruth Shaheen
(m. 1944; her death 2017)
Children2

Hugh Malcolm Downs (born February 14, 1921) is a retired American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as co-host of the NBC News program Today from 1962–71[1], host of the Concentration game show from 1958–69[2][3], and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978–99.[4] He also served as announcer/sidekick for Tonight Starring Jack Paar[5][6], host of the PBS talk show Over Easy[7], and sometime co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.[8]

Early life[edit]

Downs was born in 1921 in Akron, Ohio to Edith (née Hicks) and Milton Howard Downs, who worked in business.[9] He was educated at Lima Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio; Bluffton College, a Mennonite school in Bluffton, Ohio; and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, during the period 1938–41.[10]

He worked as a radio announcer and program director at WLOK in Lima, Ohio, after his first year of college.[11] In 1940 he moved on to WWJ in Detroit. Downs served in the United States Army during World War II in 1943 and then joined the NBC radio network at WMAQ as an announcer in Chicago, Illinois, where he lived until 1954.[11] While at WMAQ Downs also acted, including as the "co-pilot" in the "Uncle Ned's Squadron" program in 1951. He married a coworker, Ruth Shaheen in 1944, three days after his 23rd birthday. He also attended Columbia University in New York City during 1955–56.[12]

Television career[edit]

Downs and daughter, Deirdre (1960)
Jack Paar, Downs, Jose Melis on The Tonight Show; Downs was host Paar's announcer.
With Darren McGavin on the set of the TV series Riverboat

Downs made his first television news broadcast in September 1945 from the still experimental studio of WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV), a station then owned by the Balaban and Katz theater subsidiary of Paramount Pictures.

Downs became a television regular, announcing for Hawkins Falls in 1950, the first successful television soap opera, which was sponsored by Lever Brothers Surf detergent. He also announced the Burr Tillstrom children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie from the NBC studios at Chicago's Merchandise Mart after the network picked up the program from WBKB. In March 1954, Downs moved to New York City to accept a position as announcer for Pat Weaver's The Home Show starring Arlene Francis. That program lasted until August 1957. He was the announcer for Sid Caesar's Caesar's Hour for the 1956–57 season, and one of NBC Radio's Monitor "Communicators" from 1955–1959.[13] Downs became a bona fide television "personality" as Jack Paar's announcer on The Tonight Show from mid-1957, when he replaced Franklin Pangborn, until Paar's departure in March 1962,[11] and then continued to announce for The Tonight Show until the summer of 1962, when Ed Herlihy took the announcing reins. Herlihy held that post until October 1, 1962, when Johnny Carson took over the show, and brought Ed McMahon as his announcer.[14]

On August 25, 1958, Downs concurrently began a more than ten-year run hosting the original version of the game show Concentration.[3] Also, he hosted NBC's Today Show for nine years from September 1962 to October 1971, plus co-hosting the syndicated television program Not for Women Only with Barbara Walters in 1975–76. Downs also appeared as a panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth and played himself in an episode of NBC's sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?[15]

Downs earned a postgraduate degree in gerontology from Hunter College while he was hosting Over Easy, a PBS television program about aging that aired from 1977 to 1983. He was probably best known in later years as the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor — again paired with Walters — of the ABC news TV show 20/20, a primetime news magazine program, from the show's second episode in 1978 until his retirement in 1999.[4]

In 1985, Downs was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[16]

In 1985, he was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as holding the record for the greatest number of hours on network commercial television (15,188 hours),[17] though he lost the record for most hours on all forms of television to Regis Philbin in 2004.[18]

A published composer, Downs hosted the PBS showcase for classical music, Live from Lincoln Center from 1990–96. Downs made a cameo appearance on Family Guy in addition to other TV shows.[19]

Downs has been seen in infomercials for Bottom Line Publications, including their World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets, as well as another one for a personal coach. He did an infomercial for Where There's a Will There's an A in 2003. His infomercial work since then has aroused some controversy, with many arguing the products are scams.[20]

Downs has most recently appeared in regional public service announcements in Arizona, where he currently lives, for that state's Motor Vehicles Division; for Hospice of the Valley, a Phoenix-area non-profit organization specializing in hospice care, as well as in many public, short-form programs in which he serves as host of educational interstitials.[21]

On October 13, 2007, Downs was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.[22]

Downs was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 1967 in the area of communications.[23]

Ruth Shaheen Downs, Hugh's wife, died on March 28, 2017 at age 95.[24]

Film appearances[edit]

Public service and political views[edit]

Hugh Downs in 1961

Downs was a special consultant to the United Nations for refugee problems from 1961–64 and served as Chairman of the Board of the United States Committee for UNICEF.

Downs wrote a column for Science Digest during the 1960s. He was Science Consultant to Westinghouse Laboratories and the Ford Foundation and an elected member of the National Academy of Science. He served as chair of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society until 2019 and was a longtime president and chairman of the predecessor National Space Institute.[25] The asteroid 71000 Hughdowns is named after him.[26]

The auditorium of Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio and the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, are named in his honor.

As part of the Centennial of the State of Arizona celebration in February 2012, Downs narrated Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" on stage with the Phoenix Symphony.

Downs has publicly expressed support for libertarian viewpoints. He opposes the U.S. "war on drugs". He did several pieces about the war on drugs and hemp.[27] On his last 20/20 he was asked if he had any personal opinions he would like to express and responded that marijuana should be legalized.[28]

Books[edit]

  • Yours Truly... Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1960. (autobiography)
  • A Shoal of Stars: A True-Life Account of Everyman's Dream: Sailing Across the Pacific to Exotic Lands. Doubleday. 1967.
  • Rings Around Tomorrow. Doubleday. 1970. an anthology of Downs's science articles[29]
  • Potential: The Way to Emotional Maturity. Doubleday. 1973. ISBN 978-0-3850-3742-6.
  • Thirty Dirty Lies About Old Age. Argus. 1979. ISBN 0-89505-033-1.
  • The Best Years: How to Plan for Fulfillment, Security, and Happiness in the Retirement Years. Delacorte Press hardcover. 1981. ISBN 0-385-28076-9.
  • The Best Years Book. Dell Publishing paperback. 1982. ISBN 978-0-8950-5033-5.
  • On Camera: My 10,000 Hours on Television. Putnam. 1986. ISBN 978-0-3991-3203-2.
  • Fifty to Forever. Thomas Nelson Inc. 1994. ISBN 978-0-8407-7786-7. a collection of essays
  • Perspectives. Turner Publications. 1995. ISBN 978-1-5703-6283-5. 50 selections from his ten-minute radio essays
  • Greater Phoenix: The Desert in Bloom. Towery Publications. 1999. ISBN 978-1-8810-9669-6.
  • Pure Gold: A Lifetime of Love and Marriage. Arizona State University Press. 2001. ISBN 978-0-9717-1600-1.
  • Hugh Downs, ed. (2002). My America: What My Country Means to Me, by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-7432-3474-0.
  • Letter to a Great Grandson: A Message of Love, Advice, and Hopes for the Future. Scribner. 2004. ISBN 978-0-7432-6291-0.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ Mink, Eric; Dolphin, Laurie; Brown, Christian (October 1, 2003). Dolphin, Laurie; Brown, Christian (eds.). This is Today: A Window On Our Times. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. xiii. ISBN 0740738534.
  2. ^ "Concentration". fiftiesweb.com. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Ryan, Steve (1991). Classic Concentration: The Game, the Show, the Puzzles. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 13. ISBN 9780806984681. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Lisa de Moraes (May 6, 1999). "Host Hugh Downs To Leave '20/20'". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  5. ^ "A Matchless Library Television Archive: 1946-1982". atvaudio.com. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  6. ^ "A Matchless Library Television Archive: 1946-1982". atvaudio.com. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  7. ^ Reed, Robert M.; Reed, Maxine K. (1992). The Encyclopedia of Television, Cable, and Video. Springer US. p. 174. doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-6521-1. ISBN 978-1-4684-6523-5.
  8. ^ Erler, Robert J.; Timberg, Bernard M. (2010). Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p. 228. ISBN 9780292781764. OCLC 355281797.
  9. ^ "Hugh Downs Biography". filmreference.com. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  10. ^ "2010-2011 Fact Book" (PDF). Wayne State University. 2010. p. 61. Retrieved January 4, 2020. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  11. ^ a b c Rayburn, John, ed. (2008). Cat Whiskers and Talking Furniture: Memoir of Radio and Television Broadcasting. McFarland. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-7864-3697-2. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  12. ^ Bob Nelson (1997). "Hugh Downs Hosts Appreciation for Popular Physicist Motz". columbia.edu. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  13. ^ "Monitor's Communicators". MonitorBeacon.net. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  14. ^ Dearborn, Fitzroy; Newcomb, Horace, eds. (2005). Encyclopedia of Television. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 2697. ISBN 1-57958-411-X. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  15. ^ "Car 54, Where are You? Season 1, Episode 11, Catch Me on the Paar Show". tv.com. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  16. ^ Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4.
  17. ^ Holston, Noel (March 19, 1986). "Hugh Downs Logs In Most Hours On Screen". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  18. ^ "Most hours on US television". guinnessworldrecords.com. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  19. ^ "Family Guy, Season 3, Episode 8, The Kiss Seen Around the World". tv.com. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  20. ^ Quill, MD, Timothy J. "The World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets". Infomercial Watch. Comments on the 2006 Book and Infomercial
  21. ^ "Other works". at Hugh Downs on IMDb
  22. ^ Staff Writer (October 11, 2007). "Game shows get hall of fame". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  23. ^ "Laureates by Year - The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  24. ^ "Ruth Downs Obituary". legacy.com. March 29, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  25. ^ Downs, Hugh (November 1, 1994). "Growing to a Position of Strength". Ad Astra. National Space Society. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  26. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2012). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. p. 1219. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-29718-2. ISBN 978-3-642-29717-5.
  27. ^ Evans, Rod; Berent, Irwin, eds. (1992). Drug Legalization: For and Against. Open Court. p. 346. ISBN 0-8126-9183-0. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  28. ^ "Marijuana: Telling Teenagers the Truth about Smoking Pot". Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  29. ^ Portnoff, Collice (March 1, 1970). "Books--in the news". The Arizona Republic. p. N-11. Retrieved May 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access

External links[edit]

Media offices
Preceded by
Franklin Pangborn 		The Tonight Show announcer
1957–1962 		Succeeded by
Ed McMahon
Preceded by
Jack Barry 		Concentration host
1958–1969 		Succeeded by
Bob Clayton
Preceded by
John Chancellor 		Today Show Host with Barbara Walters
September 17, 1962–October 1, 1971 		Succeeded by
Frank McGee
Preceded by
Harold Hayes and Robert Hughes

(first episode only) 		20/20 Anchor
himself June 13, 1978–1984,
with Barbara Walters, 1984–1999
1978–1999 		Succeeded by
Barbara Walters
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