Bill Cullen

**Bill Cullen** (18 February 1920 – 7 July 1990) was an American radio and television personality.

He was a panelist in *Match Game*.

## Early Life

Cullen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of William and Lillian Cullen. His father was a Ford dealer in Pittsburgh.

He survived a childhood bout with polio that left him with significant physical limitations for the rest of his life. Cullen was a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh, but had to withdraw because of financial problems. After he achieved some success in radio, he returned to the university and earned a bachelor's degree.

## Radio

Cullen's broadcasting career began in 1939 in Pittsburgh at WWSW radio, where he worked as a disc jockey and play-by-play announcer or color commentator for Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Hornets games. In 1943, Cullen left WWSW to briefly work at rival station KDKA before leaving Pittsburgh a year later to try his luck in New York. A week after arriving in New York, he was hired as a staff announcer at CBS.

To supplement his then-meager income, he became a freelance joke writer for some of the top radio stars of the day, including Arthur Godfrey, Danny Kaye, and Jack Benny; he also worked as a staff writer for the Easy Aces radio show.

His first venture into game shows was in 1945, when he was hired as announcer for a radio quiz called *Give and Take*. Between 1946 and 1953, he worked as announcer for various other local and network shows, including the radio version of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman's first game show, *Winner Take All*, hosted by Ward Wilson; Cullen took over as host four months later when Wilson left. After a brief stint at WNEW in 1951, he hosted a popular morning show at WRCA radio from 1955 to 1961. His last regular radio job was as one of the hosts of NBC Radio's *Monitor* from 1971–73.

## Military Service

Cullen was a pilot for the United States Army Air Corps in World War II. Cullen served in the Civil Air Patrol as an instructor and patrol pilot in his native Pennsylvania during World War II, having failed to qualify for combat duty due to his physical disabilities, and was interested in mechanics.

## Television

Cullen's first television game show was the TV version of *Winner Take All*, which premiered on CBS in 1952. In 1953, Cullen had *The Bill Cullen Show*, a weekly morning variety program on CBS. He hosted *Bank on the Stars* in 1954. From 1954 to 1955, he hosted NBC's *Place the Face*, a program in which celebrities identified people from their past; he simultaneously hosted CBS's *Name That Tune*. From 1956 to 1966, he hosted the initial daytime and primetime versions of *The Price Is Right*, another Goodson-Todman production. He was also a panelist on *I've Got a Secret* from 1952 to 1967 and *To Tell the Truth* from 1969 to 1978, where he also guest hosted on occasion. After relocating to Southern California, Cullen guest hosted *Password Plus* for four weeks in April 1980 while original host Allen Ludden was being treated for stomach cancer.

Cullen was initially in the running to host the 1972 revival of *The Price Is Right*, but the physical demands of the new format were deemed too strenuous for him. Occasional references to Cullen have been made by current host Drew Carey.

Other game shows Cullen hosted included *Eye Guess* in the 1960s, *Three on a Match*, *Blankety Blanks*, *The Love Experts*, *How Do You Like Your Eggs?* and the syndicated version of *The $25,000 Pyramid* in the 1970s, and later in his career *Chain Reaction*, *Blockbusters*, *Child's Play*, *Hot Potato*, and *The Joker's Wild*.

Cullen appeared as a celebrity guest in many other game shows, including *I've Got a Secret*, *What's My Line?*, *To Tell the Truth*, *Personality*, *The Cross-Wits*, *Password*, *Password Plus*, *Match Game*, *Tattletales*, *Break the Bank*, *Shoot for the Stars*, and all of the pre-$100,000 versions of *Pyramid*. Cullen hosted a number of pilots for his close friend, quiz producer Bob Stewart, who created *The Price Is Right*, *Truth*, and *Password* for Goodson-Todman and Pyramid for his own company. Cullen thus became the only person to host each of these formats on a full- or part-time basis. He also appeared as a panelist in game shows hosted by his favorite understudy, Bob Eubanks, including *Trivia Trap*, *Rhyme and Reason*, and *All Star Secrets*, and he made guest appearances with Eubanks in *Family Feud*.

In 1982, Cullen made an appearance in *The Price Is Right* to promote his new game show, *Child's Play*. It was the only time he ever appeared in the revival of *The Price Is Right*, but no mention was made of his role as the show's original host.

## Achievements

Cullen did color commentary on college football games early in his career, and also broadcast track and field on NBC. In *I've Got a Secret*, producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman and host Garry Moore quickly learned to never start the questioning with Cullen if the guest's secret was anything sports-related or mechanical, because chances were good that he would guess it immediately.

During his television career, Cullen was nominated three times for Emmy Awards; his only win was a Primetime Emmy for hosting *Three on a Match*. He was later nominated for Daytime Emmys for his work on *Blockbusters* and *Hot Potato*.

Throughout his entire career in radio and television, Cullen hosted more than 25,000 individual episodes of radio and television shows.

## Personal Life

Cullen was married three times and had no children. His first marriage was a brief one while still living in Pittsburgh. His second marriage (1948–1955) was to singer Carol Ames. On 24 December 1955, Cullen married former dancer and model Ann Roemheld Macomber, born Elise Ann Roemheld, the daughter of composer Heinz Roemheld; this marriage lasted until his death in 1990. She occasionally worked as a model on Bill's *The Price Is Right* and made several appearances with him on *Tattletales*. She died 21 July 2018, aged 90.

## Physical Disability

Cullen contracted poliomyelitis in August 1921, when he was eighteen months old. The long-term sequelae of that illness, combined with injuries sustained in a serious motor vehicle accident in 1937 requiring a nine-month hospitalization, made it difficult for him to walk or stand for an extended period of time.

Directors on his game shows took great care to limit the extent that Cullen was shown walking on camera. Each show's set was designed to accommodate Cullen's limited range of motion; the podiums, game boards, props, and any physical movements by contestants were arranged so that Cullen could, for the most part, remain stationary. Rather than the grand entrance common for most game show hosts, Cullen began each show either already seated, or hidden on set behind a nearby prop so he would only have to take a minimum number of steps to his podium. Cullen always sat in a chair while hosting, even on shows where the other participants stood. Similar accommodations were made when he appeared as a guest on other game shows.

In the fall of 1969, shortly after Eye Guess ended, Cullen fell seriously ill. Diagnosed with pancreatitis and requiring major surgery, Cullen took time off from work to recuperate. When he returned to television, particularly his position on the panel for *To Tell The Truth*, his physical appearance had drastically changed; along with letting his hair grow out, his pancreatitis had caused him to lose over thirty pounds, leaving his face gaunt and wrinkled.

Cullen was a midget car racer, and he was a member of the Civil Defense air auxiliary.

Cullen, a smoker for most of his life, died of lung cancer at his home in Bel Air, California, aged 70.