Ralph Edwards Biography

Fast Facts

• Helped to found the cancer organization the Jimmy Fund in 1948
• Received an Eisenhower Medal for selling half a billion dollars worth of war bonds during World War II
• Graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in English
• Started out as a script writer for the KROW radio station in Oakland, California
• After moving to New York in 1936, he worked as a freelance radio announcer for CBS and NBC and by 1939 was announcing 45 shows a week
• Best known as a radio and television host and producer who hosted "Truth or Consequences" and "This Is Your Life․"
• Produced more than 20 TV shows with his production company, Ralph Edwards Productions, including "Name That Tune," "Place the Face," and "The People's Court," which he co-produced with Stu Billett
• Once suggested to "Truth or Consequences" radio listeners that they should send a penny to a Staten Island woman who wanted to save money for the homecoming of her son, who was a Marine; the woman received 300,157 pennies
• His idea for "Truth or Consequences" was so successful that the town of Hot Springs, New Mexico changed its name to Truth or Consequences in 1950
• Never appeared as a guest on "This Is Your Life," and informed his staff that he would fire all of them if they ever tried to surprise him