Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs was born in Akron, Ohio, United States on February 14th, 1921 and is the TV Show Host. At the age of 99, Hugh Downs biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, TV shows, and networth are available.
At 99 years old, Hugh Downs physical status not available right now. We will update Hugh Downs's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
Hugh Malcolm Downs (born February 14, 1921) is a retired American television presenter, television presenter, broadcaster, TV engineer, game show host, and music composer.
He is perhaps best known for his contributions as co-host of the NBC News show Today from 1962–69, host of the Concentration game show from 1958–99, and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978 to 1999.
He has also appeared as announcer/sidekick for Tonight Starring Jack Paar, host of the PBS talk show Over Easy, and co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.
Early life
Downs was born in Akron, Ohio, to Edith (née Hicks) and Milton Howard Downs, who worked in industry in 1921. During the period 1938–41, 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.
Personal life
Ruth Shaheen was born in 1944 and died on February 17, 1944. They had two children, Deirdre and H.R. Ruth died on March 28, 2017, at the age of 95.
Downs held a private pilot license, and was approved for multi-engine seaplanes, single-engine seaplanes, hot air balloons, and glider aerotow.
Television career
Downs received his first television news broadcast in September 1945 from the still-experimental studio of WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV), a Chicago station then owned by Paramount Pictures' Balaban and Katz. Downs later learned that he had never seen a television before going to work, and he was uncertain if television would last. Downs first appeared on television in 1950, announcing for Hawkins Falls, the first commercial television soap opera sponsored by Lever Brothers' Surf detergent, announcing the first profitable television soap opera. After the network picked up the program from WBKB, Burr Tillstrom's show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie from the NBC studios at Chicago's Merchandise Mart also announced the Burr Tillstrom children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie from the NBC studios.
Downs migrated to New York City in March 1954 to act as announcer for Pat Weaver's The Home Show, starring Arlene Francis. That service ran until August 1957. He was the announcer for Sid Caesar's Hour from 1956–59, and he was one of NBC Radio's Monitor "Communicators" from 1955 to 1959. As Jack Paar's announcer on The Tonight Show from mid 1957, he remained a bona fide television "personality" until his departure in March 1962, when Ed Herlihy took over. Herlihyn held the position until October 1, 1962, when Johnny Carson took over the show, and Ed McMahon took over as the show's announcer.
Downs began a more than ten-year tenure on August 25, 1958, when they first appeared on the game show Concentration. He appeared on NBC's Today Show from September 1962 to October 1971, co-hosted the syndicated television show Not for Women Only with Barbara Walters in 1975-1976. Downs also appeared on the television game show To Tell the Truth and appeared as a panelist, and he performed himself in an episode of NBC's sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?
While hosting Over Easy, a PBS television show on aging that aired from 1977 to 1983, Downs earned a postgraduate degree in gerontology from Hunter College. He was certainly best known in later years as the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor, again partnered with Walters, of ABC News TV show 20/20, a prime-time news magazine program, from 1978 to 1999, when the show's second episode was shown.
In 1984, Downs was admitted to the International Air & Space Museum in San Diego, California. He was rated by Guinness Book of World Records (now Guinness World Records) as having the most hours on network commercial television (15,188 hours), but Regis Philbin broke the record for most hours on television to Regis Philbin in 2004.
Downs hosted the PBS showcase for classical music from 1990 to 1996. In comparison to other television shows, Downs made a cameo appearance on Family Guy.
Downs appeared in infomercials for Bottom Line Publications, including the World's Largest Treasury of Health Secrets and one for a personal coach. In 2003, Will There's an A. His subsequent infomercial ventures sparked some controversy, with some claiming that the services were scams.
Downs appeared in regional public-service announcements in Arizona for the state's Motor Vehicles Division and Hospice of the Valley, a non-profit group in Phoenix specializing in hospice care. He also directed some public short-form projects in which he served as the host of educational interstitials.
Downs was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 13, 2007.
Downs was inducted into the Lincoln Academy of Illinois as a Lincoln Laureate in 1967 and was given the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest award) by the governor of Illinois.