Here are a few of my favorite Game Show stories…..

I was a reoccurring player on Password Plus for many years! I loved playing that game. The first celebrity I was pitted against was Elizabeth Montgomery. She was considered the best female player and I was intimidated.  Okay, I was terrified! I was in my early 20’s and was a huge fan of hers  and haded hoped she would not be my first opponent! But there she was! When I pulled into my NBC parking spot, which was Johnny Carson’s spot with my name covering his,  to shoot that first show I saw her name next to my parking spot and started to shake!! Truly! Okay, Liz beat me that first day but I came back to beat her many times. I took winning money for the contestant very personal!!!

Right before Allen Ludden’s death he did an article about Password and called me the top male Password player....and of course Elizabeth Montgomery was at the top of his female list!!  Ah....revenge!

Over time Allen and I became friends. I adored him! The day of Allen’s funeral I was hosting a pilot for my first games show called Pot-of-Gold at NBC. I remember sitting in the makeup chair Allen always sat in. I was really sad I could not go to the funeral just a mile away at Forest Lawn. Allen always took an eyebrow pencil and put a a small black line under his bottom lip to make it seem fuller. So with tears in my eyes, I penciled in a bottom lip line and said out loud...”This ones for you Allen.” It may sound really stupid but he was a great friend and mentor and I still miss him!!!  When I hosted FINDERS KEEPERS for Nickelodeon I channeled my old friend.

BUT THE BEST DAY….One day when I first arrived at NBC to film a week’s worth of shows, the producers asked me to teach Lucille Ball how to play the  endgame, Alphabetics. Were they crazy? YES I would teach Lucy! Lucy had played in the black and white days of Password but was unfamiliar with the “new” endgame. I was so thrilled and so very excited. Lucy was a great backgammon player but sucked at Password. I immediately called my Mom who lived in Burbank and asked her if she wanted to spend the day with Lucille Ball? My mom was going to stay in my dressing room with Lucy all day while she watched me tape five episodes of the show. Se was so excited she made it to the the NBC Studios in 10 minutes!  It was an amazing day!!!  We shot a whole week of shows in one day so after each show I would return to my dressing room and Lucy and I would go over the clues I used and talk about strategy. It was a day that made me so grateful at the opportunities I had been given. That day rocked!!!

And then there is the day I shared my NBC dressing room with Redd Foxx…….oh, my…………

Special thanks to The Game Show Temple for posting this clip!!!  http://thegstemple.bravehost.com/