TV pioneer hosted news, game shows
Hugh Downs, a television pioneer who became one of the medium’s most enduring, likable and reassuring presences in a fivedecade career that included serving as Jack Paar’s latenight announcersidekick, and hosting the NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s newsmagazine “20/20,” died Thursday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz.
A family member said the cause of death was heart failure. Downs was 99.
In a broadcasting career that began in 1939 at age 18 when he landed a job as an announcer on a 100watt radio station in Lima, Ohio, Downs moved into television as an announcer for the NBCowned station in Chicago in 1950.
More than three decades later, the Guinness Book of Records certified that Downs held the Guinness Record for onair national commercial television time, with nearly 10,000 hours as of 1985. His total of more than 15,000 hours was surpassed by Regis Philbin in 2004.
At the time, that included five years on the “Tonight” show, 10 years hosting the game show “Concentration,” nine years hosting the “Today” show, four years hosting “Over Easy” (the PBS series about aging in America), and the first seven of his 21 years hosting “20/20.”
Downs, who won Emmys for his work on “Concentration,” “Today” and “Over Easy,” began his long run on ABC’s awardwinning “20/20” in 1978, alongside Barbara Walters, when he took over as host a week after the show’s disastrous premiere with dual hosts (Harold Hayes and Robert Hughes). He stepped down in 1999, when he was 78.
Downs had also been called in to host “Today” after his predecessors on the program — Edwin Newman and John Chancellor — failed to connect with viewers as a replacement for Dave Garroway. Downs’ presence turned the fortunes of the NBC morning franchise around, forming one of the most popular “Today” teams with Walters and Joe Garagiola.
“Hugh had the easiness that made people comfortable in the morning,” former NBC News president and ABC News executive Dick Wald said in a 2011 interview. “His wide range of interests gave him a little bit of knowledge about almost everything under the sun; and a general pleasant demeanor that made everybody feel comfortable. He was really the everyman of that business.”
At the beginning of his television career at the NBC affiliate in Chicago, Downs was the announcer for the classic “Kukla, Fran & Ollie” puppet show and the soap opera “Hawkins Falls.” He moved to New York City in 1954 to announce NBC’s “The Home Show,” a new morning program starring Arlene Francis.
Downs went on to be the announcer for the last season of “Caesar’s Hour” on NBC before Paar tapped him to be his announcer for the debut of the network’s new “Tonight” show in 1957.
“Tonight” turned Paar into a national TV sensation and made Downs a TV personality in his own right after Paar began asking him to sit on the panel on a regular basis, and he became Paar’s frequent replacement host.
Their banter before the first guests came out led to Downs displaying his knowledge of music, psychology, astronomy, skin diving and other subjects.
Downs continued as announcer until Paar left the show in 1962 and Johnny Carson became the “Tonight” show host with Ed McMahon as his announcer.
While continuing his hosting duties on “Concentration,” Downs became the new host of the “Today” show in 1962, a job he held until 1971.
Living in Carefree, Ariz., after leaving “Today,” Downs over the next several years narrated a series of environmental and historical specials for NBC, wrote a number of books, did some teaching and became a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara.
He was hosting “Over Easy” in 1978 when he was asked to step in as host of “20/20”.
For segments of the “Today” show, he rode a killer whale at Sea World in San Diego, went through training to get his private pilot’s license and drove a Formula A racing car.
For “20/20,” he traveled to the South Pole and participated in an underwater search for a lost Spanish galleon in the British Virgin Islands.
Downs’ wife of 75 years, Ruth Shaheen, died in 2017. He is survived by a daughter, Deirdre, and a son, Hugh Raymond, two grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren.