Stardom As An Emcee
His biggest break in his native United States came in 1978 when NBC and Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions cast him for their new show Card Sharks. Perry hosted the entire NBC version and the two pilots that preceded the series, airing from April 24, 1978, until October 23, 1981. This series helped Perry begin a long association with NBC, lasting more than a decade.
Perry was twice considered as host for the daytime and the nighttime revival of Card Sharks in 1986, but due to his commitments with NBC and CTV, the daytime version was given to Bob Eubanks, and the nighttime version was hosted by Bill Rafferty.
Perry also hosted two game show pilots that never made it to television: Casino in 1981 (from Heatter-Quigley Productions), a game show combining elements of High Rollers, Gambit, and The Joker's Wild, and Twisters in 1982, which was similar in format to Jackpot and was produced by Bob Stewart Productions.
In 1982, NBC named Perry host of $ale of the Century, a revived version of the 1969-1973 series, airing from January 3, 1983, until March 24, 1989. For more than six seasons, he presided over the fast-paced Q&A game. Starting in January 1985, he added a third hosting gig to his resume, taking the reins of a nightly syndicated $ale of the Century that ran until September 1986.
His style and sensational salesmanship helped to make the show a big hit for the network in the last golden era of game shows, and made Perry one of the top game show personalities of the 1980s in the United States. Not forgetting the time he spent with Sid Caesar, Perry would often tell jokes related to some of the questions asked on $ale.
During his tenure at NBC, Perry appeared in the made-for-TV movie The Great American Traffic Jam (1980) along with fellow game show hosts Wink Martindale, Jack Clark, and Art James.
As Perry's career in his native country became prominent, he began appearing as a celebrity player on a few game shows, most notably Password Plus, Family Feud, and Wheel of Fortune.
During a 1983 appearance on Family Feud with a number of fellow emcees, Perry was involved in a memorable exchange during the Fast Money round. When asked by host Richard Dawson to name a brand of mouthwash, he first said Lavoris (which was already said by teammate/fellow host and Pennsylvanian Bill Cullen), then as time ran out, he said the green stuff. Dawson gave Perry a chance to come up with the name, but he could not remember it, so Dawson finally helped him by saying "You should look through the label with a micro...". Perry then shouted "SCOPE!!!", finally coming up with the answer. As it turned out, Perry won the round by coming up with two number-one answers and did not need the last question, in which Scope was also the number-one answer.
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