Bill Cullen - Game Show Career

Game Show Career

After moving to New York City he hosted several radio programs, including game shows, in the late 1940s and 1950s. His first TV game show was Winner Take All, a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production that aired on CBS in 1952. From 1954 to 1955, he hosted NBC's Place the Face, a program in which celebrities identify persons from their past. He hosted the daytime and prime-time versions of The Price Is Right, another Goodson-Todman production, from 1956 to 1965. He was also a panelist on I've Got a Secret from 1952 until 1967 and then on To Tell the Truth from 1969 until 1978, where he would also guest host on occasion. After relocating to southern California, Cullen sub-hosted Password Plus for four weeks in April 1980 while original host Allen Ludden recovered from stomach cancer.

Cullen was in the running to be the host of the 1972 revival of The Price Is Right, for CBS. However, the physical demands of the new format were considered too strenuous for Cullen. The job was instead split between Bob Barker (daytime) and Dennis James (nighttime); Barker took over both versions in 1977, and hosted The Price Is Right until his retirement in 2007. Occasional references to Cullen have been made by current The Price Is Right host Drew Carey.

While much of Cullen's hosting duties were on the East Coast, one game early in his career and those in his later years were shot in California. One show he hosted, How Do You Like Your Eggs?, was filmed in Columbus, Ohio, for Warner Cable's QUBE system.

Cullen hosted 23 different game shows over the years, making him host of more game shows than anyone else in television history. These shows included Eye Guess in the 1960s, Three on a Match and the nighttime version of The $25,000 Pyramid in the 1970s, and Chain Reaction, Blockbusters, Child's Play, Hot Potato, and The Joker's Wild in the 1980s (the last one after Jack Barry died).

He appeared as a celebrity guest on many other game shows throughout his TV career, including I've Got a Secret, Password, Password Plus, To Tell the Truth, Match Game, and all pre-$100,000 versions of Pyramid. Cullen also 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. He thus became the only person to host each of these formats on a full- or part-time basis. He also appeared as a panelist on several game shows hosted by his favorite understudy, Bob Eubanks, including those of Trivia Trap, Rhyme and Reason, and All Star Secrets, and also made guest appearances with him on Family Feud. He was also a close friend of Canadian-American host Jim Perry.

In 1982, Cullen made a surprise appearance on The Price Is Right to promote his new game show, Child's Play. This was the only time Cullen ever appeared on the revival of The Price Is Right and no mention was made of Cullen's original run as host.