Durward Kirby - Early Life

Early Life

Kirby was born in Covington, Kentucky. His family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was 15. Kirby graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, then entered Purdue University to study engineering. However, he dropped out to become a radio announcer. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. Following the war, he hosted Club Matinee in Chicago with Garry Moore on the NBC Blue radio network before moving to television in 1949 as an announcer. He was a regular on Moore's television shows from 1950 to 1968. Kirby also appeared as a host, announcer, or guest on other television programs, including serving as one of NBC Radio's Monitor "Communicators".

Kirby stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and had a mellow personality that served well as a foil for the stars he worked with. A versatile performer, he acted in sketches, sang, and danced. He moved with ease from slapstick to suave sales pitches for sponsor's product. Critic John Crosby called him "one of the most versatile muggers and comedians on the air."

His most-embarrassing moment came during a Polaroid commercial, during which he forgot to pull the tab after taking a picture of Garry Moore holding his Christmas list. After nearly a minute of one of Polaroid's people yelling "Pull the tab!" from the audience, Kirby gave a mighty yank with his long arms, and pulled all seven remaining pictures out of the camera. This required a fair amount of strength, not only to burst the developer pods, but to rip through the stops on the film roll. (Peter Wensberg, Land's Polaroid, chapter 16)

Kirby also wrote three books: My Life, Those Wonderful Years; Bits and Pieces of This and That; and a children's book, Dooley Wilson.

Durward Kirby died of congestive heart failure in Fort Myers, Florida in 2000 at the age of 88. He was buried next to his wife in Coburn Cemetery in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where he had a summer home. He was survived by his two sons.