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RALPH EDWARDS Namesake of the Game Show Congress Award for Career Community Service Pioneer broadcaster and three-time Emmy winner Ralph Edwards who created, produced, and hosted “This Is Your Life” and “Truth or Consequences,” is responsible for thousands of hours of television and radio programming, much of it live. Edwards’ charm, wit, and one-of-a-kind voice have been enjoyed in American living rooms for more than half a century. Throughout his career, Edwards devoted endless time and energy to worthy causes. During the 1940’s and 50’s, he raised more money for charity than any other broadcast personality through his radio and television shows and helped seed many of today’s most notable and thriving charities, including the American Heart Association and March of Dimes. Since 1950, there has been at least one Ralph Edwards format on television. As an innovator, he developed many of the now-standard television production techniques, most notably the multiple-camera, live-on-film format, which was later adapted by Desi Arnaz for “I Love Lucy”* and is still used in sitcoms today. Ralph Livingstone Edwards was born on Friday, June 13, 1913, at 9:13 p.m., near Merino, CO, to Harry and Minnie Mae Edwards. He attributed much of his creative success in radio and television to the early encouragement of his mother. When Edwards was 12, the family moved from its Colorado farm to Oakland, CA, where he began appearing in school plays. As a young man, jobs at radio stations in Oakland and San Francisco helped pay his way through college and he graduated from the University of California at Berkley in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama. Edwards began working in New York City as a CBS radio announcer in 1936, after he auditioned and won the position over 60 candidates. Within two years, he was announcing as many as 45 network shows a week. In 1940, Edwards created his first radio show, “Truth or Consequences,” which was based on a game he played on his family’s farm as a boy. The program would become a landmark in broadcast history as radio’s No. 1 audience participation show. As its host, Edwards asked contestants humorous questions and made them “pay” the consequences for missed answers by performing unusual and often elaborate and outlandish stunts. Emmy-winning “Truth or Consequences” aired for 38 consecutive years on radio and television, and launched the career of Edwards’ handpicked successor, Bob Barker. The show was so popular that in 1950 a New Mexico town performed the biggest stunt of all: It renamed itself Truth or Consequences, NM. “Truth or Consequences” is credited with a number of entertainment “firsts”: It was the first television program regularly filmed live before an audience on 35mm film; the first to go out of the studio to produce outrageous stunts on remote; the first to stage surprise reunions; and the first series to combine entertainment with a greater cause. These ideas became the springboard for later programs and inspired many of today’s game and reality shows. The “Truth or Consequences” radio show proved to be a valuable fundraising vehicle: During World War II, Edwards raised over half a Billion dollars in War Bonds. Almost a million and a half dollars were raised to benefit the March of Dimes from the “Hush” contests, featuring celebrities like Clara Bow and Martha Graham. Contributions from the “Walking Man” contest featuring Jack Benny launched the American Heart Association as a national organization. A Ralph Edwards-created stunt literally put Hollywood on the map. On a cross-country trip, a contestant on “Truth or Consequences” gathered more than 500,000 signatures requesting recognition for Hollywood and delivered the petition to the Postmaster General. By official decree in 1948, the Hollywood, California postmark was born. From the outgrowth of an act of good will on “Truth or Consequences,” Edwards created, produced, and hosted “This Is Your Life” which began on radio in 1948 and he introduced it to television on NBC in 1952. The show that touched the hearts of millions of viewers surprised guests with the story of their lives by reuniting them with friends and family. “This Is Your Life” profiled some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and other notable personalities, including Milton Berle, Joe Frazier, Bette Davis, Roy Rogers, Boris Karloff, Carl Reiner, Ann-Margret, Steve Allen, Dick Van Dyke, and Nat “King” Cole. Also featured were people who Edwards called “the heroic unknowns,” often in an effort to aid deserving causes. He was especially proud to endow the Alice Lloyd College in Kentucky and to help Dr. Laurence C. Jones fund the Piney Woods School in Mississippi. One of his most significant achievements resulted from a “This Is Your Life” broadcast at Pearl Harbor which honored Rear Admiral Samuel G. Fuqua, the last man to swim off the sinking USS Arizona. As a result of the 1958 televised appeal, viewers contributed the seed money for the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii. Original episodes of the NBC network staple ran for nine years until 1961. New shows aired in syndication from 1971-1973, and 1983-1984. A series of specials continued into the 1990’s and vintage shows have been broadcast on the American Movie Classics cable channel. “This Is Your Life” has been produced and broadcast in numerous countries outside the United States. Edwards launched the show in the United Kingdom in 1955, and continued to be televised on the BBC well into 2003. In addition to hosting, acting was also a calling - Edwards performed in summer stock in Holyoke, MA, and Santa Fe, NM, and appeared in six films including “The Bamboo Blonde” with Frances Langford, “Seven Day’s Leave” with Lucille Ball and Victor Mature, and “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” with Susan Hayward. Edwards was as successful behind the camera as he was in front of it, producing more than 20 shows, including “It Could Be You,” “Place The Face,” “$100,000 Name That Tune,” and “the Cross-Wits”. Edwards’ company, in conjunction with Stu Billett Productions, continues to produce “The People’s Court,” which has been on the air since 1981. Among Ralph Edwards’ hundreds of honors and awards are three Emmys as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Edwards’ lifelong dedication to his community, to the arts, and to education includes support for the 100 Club, the University of California Berkeley Fellows, the Los Angeles Music Center, and the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church. Through the popularity of “Truth or Consequences” and “This Is Your Life,” Edwards pioneered what is now known as “cause marketing,” setting an industry precedent by utilizing the company’s popular entertainment programs and its Hollywood influence to benefit innumerable causes. For more than 60 years, Edwards and his company have been responsible for raising millions of dollars for charitable organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Easter Seals, American Parkinson Disease Association, American Cancer Society, and numerous hospitals and schools. Today, Ralph Edwards Productions continues the work of its founder, producing award-winning family entertainment and content-based marketing programs benefiting worthy causes. Ralph Edwards died November 16th, 2005. He was 92 years old. Other biography pages Back to home