Dennis James
Dennis James (August 24, 1917 - June 3, 1997) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and was an actor, wrestling announcer, sports show host, game show host, and the first person to do a videotaped commercial.
He was mainly known as the host of game shows such as the NBC daytime revival of Name That Tune(1974), and the weekly syndicated nighttime The Price Is Right (from 1972-1977) (James co-hosted the promotional film with Mark Goodson, selling stations on the revival of Price, originally hosted by James' fellow TV pioneer Bill Cullen). It was a format with which James was familiar; for DuMont New York flagship WABD James had hosted Cash and Carry, one of television's first audience participation shows.
The Jersey City native, born Demi James Sposa, began his career in radio with WNEW (now WBBR) but switched to television in 1938, working for the soon-to-become-DuMont Network TV station WABD, which is now WNYW.
WABD helped to found the DuMont Television Network in 1945, and so James became the host of a few of DuMont's game shows and served as the commentator for their wrestling and boxing shows; he essentially worked as an all-arounder. James also hosted the daytime variety show Okay, Mother; the program was so named because James was famous for using that line. James' game show hosting duties spanned the better part of three decades, presiding over shows like The Name's the Same, High Finance, Chance of a Lifetime( actually, a talent contest; almost ironically, he was also Ted Mack's announcer on the latter's Original Amateur Hour at roughly the same time); Haggis Baggis People Will Talk, PDQ and Your All-American College Show (another talent contest). He was also the spokesman for Old Gold cigarettes, Kellogg's cereals, and through his own Dennis James Productions, many local and reigional companies and businesses, which aired on their respective TV stations He was also the wrestling commentator in Rocky III for the match Thunderlips vs. Rocky Balboa.
Beyond game shows, James gained his greatest fame as the emcee of the United Cerebral Palsy Associations' telethons on the East Coast. UCP was founded in 1949 by Leonard and Isabel Goldenson and Jack and Ethel Hausman. (Leonard was the American Broadcasting Company's guiding spirit from the 1950s to the 1980s). James hosted the US charity's primary telethon (in New York City on what is now WWOR-TV) for 47 years, aided by Jane Pickens, Paul Anka, Florence Henderson and other performers. When the telethon went national in 1979 with John Ritter as emcee in Los Angeles, UCP enlisted James as a presenter, in addition to James's duties as the anchor of the East Coast version.
James died on June 3, 1997 due to lung cancer. His name lives on in the Cathedral City, CA United Cerebral Palsy center, named for the man who helped raise $700 million for the charity over the years.