Ludden's Final Months

[Jimmy_1]

1.) Can someone provide a chronology of Allen Ludden's illnesses at the end of his life.  As I recall at the time, he went in for some sort of surgery (what we have just seen in mid-May episodes).  He teped several more shows, then I thought he had a stroke.  Now I am reading it was a heart attack that brought Tom Kennedy on.  Others say the cancer was the basis for his eventual departure and the stroke only added to the misery (and we see others saying it was a heart attack that compounded his pain at the end).  Can anyone straighten this out?
2.) What was the mood on the set at the time?  Was Ludden "buddy-buddy" with the crew, and did they feel bad he was ill?  Did they know he wasn't coming back?  I think Allen is doing his best to be laid back and one of the gang in this series, but sometimes he seems like Kitty Carlisle on TTTT 90 - a pleasant enough sort but you get the feeling they aren't all drinking buddies at the bar after the day's taping.  I don't mean disrespect to Ludden, but he just doesn't seem the cut-up Kennedy or Convy were and he may have had a tougher time warming up to the co-workers.  He mus thave had a kind and funny streak though to snag Betty White.

[blugold94]

From interview with Gene Wood

http://illustriousgameshowpage.com/gene2.html

 "Some of us knew how ill Allen was. He kept saying he was having these pains in his chest/stomach area, and that it was the edge of the podium he was having to bend over that was doing it. But that wasn't the case. The last six months of his life was such a sad time, but his wife Betty was so courageous." Gene had more to say about Allen and Betty: "Allen was the eternal optimist; he had a certain innocence that I've only seen in one other performer... Jack Benny. He really cared about what he was doing, and he cared passionately for Password." On Betty: "I remember one party I had where Allen and Betty came. Allen was ready to leave at one point, but couldn't find Betty. After looking around, I found her in the baby's room, rocking my son Sasha in her arms. She was such a caring person... and still is!" As for the subsequent hosts: "Tom Kennedy was an extraordinary professional. He was fun-loving, and he really gave it his all."

[TwoInchQuad]

[quote name=\'Jimmy_1\' post=\'152604\' date=\'May 17 2007, 06:47 PM\']
1.) Can someone provide a chronology of Allen Ludden's illnesses at the end of his life.  As I recall at the time, he went in for some sort of surgery (what we have just seen in mid-May episodes).  He teped several more shows, then I thought he had a stroke.  Now I am reading it was a heart attack that brought Tom Kennedy on.  Others say the cancer was the basis for his eventual departure and the stroke only added to the misery (and we see others saying it was a heart attack that compounded his pain at the end).  Can anyone straighten this out?
[/quote]

Although the symptoms were very similar to those of a stroke, it was later clarified in the press that Mr. Ludden died of a reaction to the medication he was taking for his stomach condition.

-Kevin

[Bob Zager]

IIRC, Mr. Ludden's obituary in the New York Times, stated that after initially reporting Ludden to have suffered a stroke in October 1980, doctors later determined he had slipped into a coma.  

He later regained consciousness, and after several weeks in the hospital, he was released, but never fully recovered.