Jim Perry

**Jim Perry** (born **James Edward Dooley**, November 9, 1933—November 20, 2015) was a former American television & game show host, and singer. He is best known as the host of the original format of *Card Sharks* and the 1980s format of *Sale of the Century*. In addition to hosting in America, he also hosted game shows in Canada, including *Definition* & *Headline Hunters* and well as hosting the Miss Canada pageants in the 1970s and 1980s.

## Early Life

Born James Edward Dooley in Camden, New Jersey, he started out as a singer in special services, working on Armed Forces Radio during the Korean War. He then replaced Eddie Fisher as the staff vocalist at Grossingers in the Catskill Mountains in New York and later did comedy working with Sid Caesar as his straight man for several years (which included a three-year stint with Caesar in Las Vegas and appearing on the short-lived TV series *As Caesar Sees It*). These were under his birth name of Jim Dooley. Due to a name conflict with AFTRA, he took his mother's maiden name of Perry when he began his TV work.

Jim also attended the University of Pennsylvania and was at one time an outstanding basketball player in high school thanks in part to his height (at 6'4"). He was often nicknamed Big Jim because of his height.

## Game Show Career

Jim's career in the game show world began in the early 1970s in Canada after a stint as an overnight announcer and DJ fill-in on radio station WABC in New York. His first effort in Canada was the popular game show *Fractured Phrases*, and afterwards presided over several other game shows, including *Eye Bet* and *Money Makers*—the latter also airing on syndicated television in some markets across the United States.

In 1973, Perry became host of the CTV game show *Definition* (replacing original host Bob McLean), a pun-based game which was the longest-running game show in Canadian television history, lasting until 1990. (The show was never cancelled—instead, Perry and the producers agreed it was time to retire the show.) Perry also hosted another long-running game show, *Headline Hunters*, which lasted from 1972 until 1981, with a year of repeats following.

But it was 1978 when Jim landed his biggest break in his native United States when the NBC network and Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions cast him for their new show *Card Sharks*. Perry first hosted two pilots of the series and after receiving rave reviews, the series was picked up and added to the daytime lineup, debuting on April 24, 1978 and enjoyed a three-year run on NBC with its last episode airing on October 23, 1981.

A year after his version of *Card Sharks* left the airwaves, the peacock network wanted Perry back as they named him as the host of a new revival of the classic game show *$ale of the Century* (previously aired from 1969 to 1973 and hosted by *Maverick* co-star Jack Kelly & then future *To Tell the Truth* host Joe Garagolia).

The revival version of *$ale of the Century* made its national televised debut on January 3, 1983 and immediately became a huge hit among TV viewers. In 1985, Jim began pulling triple duty, hosting *$ale of the Century* on NBC Daytime and *Definition* in Canada, and now a syndicated nighttime version of *$ale*, debuting on January 7, 1985. The nighttime version only ran just one season, ending on May 12, 1986.

When *Card Sharks* made its triumphant return in early 1986, Jim was considered twice for both the daytime and syndicated runs but due to *$ale* being on daytime and nighttime and *Definition* in Canada, he was unable to return as the roles instead went to Bob Eubanks for daytime and Bill Rafferty for nighttime.

On March 24, 1989, after seven years on the air, *$ale of the Century* ended its run on NBC Daytime (*Super Password* also ended that same day) and the only game show Perry had left was *Definition* in Canada, which would end just one year later; the show was never cancelled as Perry and the show's producers decided it was time to retire the show.

Jim also hosted two game show pilots that never made it to television: *Casino* in 1981 (from Heatter-Quigley Productions), a game show combining elements of *High Rollers*, *Gambit* and *The Joker's Wild*; and *Twisters* in 1982, which was similar in format to *Jackpot* and was produced by Bob Stewart Productions.

In total, Perry hosted approximately ten different game shows (including unsold pilots) in a career that spanned about 25 years. He was also involved in charitable causes and was a regular host of the annual Telemiracle telethon in Saskatchewan for many years in support of the Kinsmen Clubs in that province. His daughter Erin also appeared on several of these telethons, and on each occasion, performed a song together.

## Miss Canada Pageants

Perry presided as emcee of the annual "Miss Canada" Pageant, a job he held from 1967 until 1990 while his U.S. counterpart Bob Barker presided over the Miss USA Pageant until 1987 (due to the committee's refusal to drop fur and mink coats as prizes).

Like Bert Parks in the United States, Perry would sing the pageant's closing song, "The Fairest Girl in Canada", soon after the new Miss Canada was crowned.

## Retirement

After his sensational runs of *$ale of the Century* and *Definition* as well the "Miss Canada" pageants, Jim kept a low profile, making extremely rare television appearances.

In 1991, he made a brief cameo appearance on the dating game show *Studs*, hosted by Mark DeCarlo, who was a contestant on the daytime version of *$ale of the Century* back in 1985.

In 1994, Perry hosted his last game show pilot: *Cash Tornado* for Mark Goodson Productions. It was not picked up, but it did lead to various states employing their own state-based lottery game shows: *Illinois Instant Riches/Illinois Luckiest* for Illinois, *Bonus Bonanza* for Massachusetts, *Flamingo Fortune* for Florida, and *NY Wired* for New York.

Since then, Jim has quietly settled into retirement from television. He and his wife, June, have split their time between Florida and North Carolina. In recent years he authored two self-awareness books, and appeared in a few infomercials (mostly produced by his daughter Erin and fellow game show host Pat Finn). His last television appearance was on CNBC in the late 1990s to discuss one of his books. Jim and June had previously lived in Ashland, Oregon, after leaving Southern California in the 1990s.

According to some game show fans, the *Sesame Street* character and resident game show emcee "Guy Smiley" is said to be modeled after Jim, though not completely based on him.

## Famous Catchphrases

"You took a chance, and it didn't/did not pay off."

"You took a chance, and it paid off."

## Death

After a long battle with cancer, Perry passed away in his home in Eagle Point, Oregon. He was 82 years old.

## Gallery

Jim on the 1978 Card Sharks PilotJim in a "CS" publicity shotJim with dealers Ann Pennington & Janice Baker in a "CS" publicity shotJim with dealers Lois Areno and Janice in a promo shotJim awaiting the contestant's decision during a play of the Money CardsJim on the set of the Canadian Game Show *Headline Hunters*Jim on a 1983 *Family Feud* TV emcee specialJim on the set of *$ale of The Century*