In Memory of 'Match Game' TV Host Gene Rayburn: 25 Years After His Tragic Death

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It's been 25 years since TV personality the five-times Emmy-nominated Gene Rayburn who, from the 1960s to the 1980s, hosted The Match Game game show, died from congestive heart failure at 81. This is his story.

A Closer Look

Gene Rayburn was born in Chicago on Dec. 22, 1917, the son of Milan Rubessa, a machinist and carpenter, and Mary Hivec Rubessa, who moved to America from Croatia. He later selected his new surname, Rayburn, out of the phone book.

Rayburn attended one year of college at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and then relocated to New York, where he served an internship as an NBC Page. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a pilot, bombardier, and instructor.

In 1940, Rayburn married a hat model named Helen Ticknor (who died in 1996).

Into the 1940s

As the 1940s continued, Gene Rayburn became a pioneering presence on radio's WNEW, initially partnering with Jack Lescoulie and then Dee Finch. Their show helped to ignite the morning drive-time format that has been utilized by countless radio DJs ever since.

In 1952, Rayburn joined NBC Radio, where his early-morning program was hosted by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding.

After that, Rayburn was the leading host of NBC radio's Monitor weekend show, and was a guest host on Today.

Rayburn transitioned into the world of TV game shows beginning with The Sky's the Limit and subsequently hosting Saturday Morning Live.

Rayburn had also been hired to be Steve Allen's sidekick on The Tonight Show, which also featured him in skits.

He Got Game

Gene Rayburn found his niche when he began hosting game shows such as Play Your Hunch and Tic Tac Dough before his Match Game show changed the genre game, beginning with NBC's edition from 1962 to 1969. CBS later rebooted from 1973 to 1979 and once more in 1983-84, while a prime-time edition aired during the 1970s.

For years, Rayburn had acted in TV anthology shows like Robert Montgomery Presents and Summer Stock. Case in point: He performed on a national tour of Come Blow Your Horn and in 1961 replaced Dick Van Dyke for six months as the lead in the Broadway hit musical Bye Bye Birdie.

Rayburn also served as the New York Local president of AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and worked to improve the pensions of performers.

The End Game

Shortly before he passed away in 1999, Gene Rayburn received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Television Academy; a well-deserved prestigious accolade for a life well lived, and a game show host, well played.

Or as Fred Westbrook, Rayburn's agent, once concluded, "He was the Frank Sinatra of game show hosts."