Author Topic: Betty White/Password Question (Read 7389 times)

cmjb13 · « **on:** July 28, 2003, 06:06:56 AM »

Was she the only person to appear on all 4 versions? (B&W, PW All-stars, P+, and SP)

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #1 on:** July 28, 2003, 09:10:07 AM »

Offhand, I'd bet that Patty Duke and Vicki Lawrence did all four versions as well. (I don't believe Carol Burnett ever played Super Password.)

Keep in mind, though, that when you refer to \"all four versions\" as being B&W, All-Stars, P+ and SP, you're leaving out three years of color shows on ABC before they changed the format to Password All-Stars. In terms of recognizing distinct \"versions\" the way we do with Hollywood Squares, I'd be inclined to consider the entire 1971-1975 ABC run as one \"version\" despite the rather radical format and title changes near the end of the run. If you do that, there are probably some other names you could add (Tom Poston, for example).

zachhoran · « **Reply #2 on:** July 28, 2003, 10:03:02 AM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jul 28 2003, 08:10 AM\'] Offhand, I'd bet that Patty Duke and Vicki Lawrence did all four versions as well. [/quote]
Vicki wasn't in the public eye when the CBS Password ended in 1967. Vicki's first appearance on a game show was probably Stump the Stars(AKA a revival of Pantomime Quiz) in the late 60s. Patty Duke is a possibility to have done all four versions.
I'm surprised Matt didn't think of Bill Cullen right off, who did all four versions, and I suppose Lucille Ball did as well.

I'm sure we're leaving someone else off this list.

David Lawrence · « **Reply #3 on:** July 28, 2003, 10:22:09 AM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jul 28 2003, 09:03 AM\']I'm sure we're leaving someone else off this list.
[/quote]
Greg Morris, perhaps?

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #4 on:** July 28, 2003, 10:25:38 AM »

Nipsey?

zachhoran · « **Reply #5 on:** July 28, 2003, 10:28:36 AM »

I don't think Greg Morris would have done the 60s version(Mission Impossible didn't become popular until around the time the 60s Password left the air), but I think he did do the other three.

Nipsey definitely did at least a week each of P+ and SP.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #6 on:** July 28, 2003, 11:01:25 AM »

I was thinking of Liz Montgomery as well, but did she ever do SP?

zachhoran · « **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2003, 11:06:48 AM »

Liz didn't do SP.

clemon79 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 28, 2003, 11:44:35 AM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jul 28 2003, 06:10 AM\'] Offhand, I'd bet that Patty Duke and Vicki Lawrence did all four versions as well. [/quote]
Speaking of Vicki and color Password, I have a question about this picture from Aaron Handy's Password site:

http://www.geocities.com/ABCPass/stills/PassABC_73.jpg

(hey, dig that 'fro.)

Specificlly, what appears to be that cropped \"4\" in the circle keyed in the upper right corner. Is that the value of the word at that point? And did they use a graphic like that when they went to ABC? (I've only seen the B/W CBS ones on GSN...I saw Password when it originally aired, of course, but I was all of three or four years old and don't remember much.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #9 on:** July 28, 2003, 12:02:01 PM »

Quote

Specificlly, what appears to be that cropped \"4\" in the circle keyed in the upper right corner.

I got this one! That photo was scanned from the TV Guide cover story about the top fifty game shows of all time. Guess which show ranked number \"4\".

Quote

I'm surprised Matt didn't think of Bill Cullen right off, who did all four versions, and I suppose Lucille Ball did as well.

Of course! I originally was only considering Password All-Stars, which neither Bill nor Lucy did. When I suggested we expand that \"version\" to include the entire 70s run (which we now appear to be doing), I dropped Poston's name offhandedly, but I imagine there are several others.

And for those of you who are interested in digging for more:

Original series (day & night): http://classicgames.topcities.com/CBSdayti...word/index.html and
http://www.kinescopes.com/G_T_big4.html
70's Password, including All-Stars: http://www.geocities.com/ABCPass_CelebArchives/
Password Plus: http://www.matchgame.org/episodeguides/passwordplus/
Super Password (incomplete): http://www.geocities.com/rjs_bird/spepisode.html

pyrfan · « **Reply #10 on:** July 29, 2003, 02:47:05 AM »

After seeing this thread, I had to go through my research and come up with some answers. Assuming that we're counting the daytime and nighttime versions of the '60s \"Password\" as one version and all of the ABC variations as one version, then here is the list of celebs who have played all four versions. You may be surprised.

Betty White
Bill Cullen
Nipsey Russell
Anita Gillette
Robert Reed
Pat Harrington
Lucille Ball

Noticeable absences from the list: Dick Gautier, Greg Morris, Dick Martin, Anne Meara, and Patty Duke, all of whom never played in the '60s; Jack Jones, Tom Poston, and Phyllis Diller, who never played the ABC version; Abby Dalton, who never played \"Password Plus;\" and Orson Bean, who never played on ABC or on \"Plus.\"

Brendan

clemon79 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 29, 2003, 11:34:48 AM »

[quote name=\'pyrfan\' date=\'Jul 28 2003, 11:47 PM\'] You may be surprised.
[/quote]
The only thing that surprises me there is that I thought Robert Reed was dead by the time Super Password was on, but I suppose I'm not estimating the date of his death very accurately.

zachhoran · « **Reply #12 on:** July 29, 2003, 11:37:46 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 29 2003, 10:34 AM\']
The only thing that surprises me there is that I thought Robert Reed was dead by the time Super Password was on, but I suppose I'm not estimating the date of his death very accurately. [/quote]
Reed died in 1991, and made an appearance with FLorence Henderson on Davidson HS in 1988, as two celeb contestants playing for charity, and I believe SP(which he did in SUmmer 1985) and Davidson HS were his last two GS appearances.

Mike Tennant · « **Reply #13 on:** July 29, 2003, 11:39:47 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 29 2003, 10:34 AM\'][quote name=\'pyrfan\' date=\'Jul 28 2003, 11:47 PM\'] You may be surprised.
[/quote]
The only thing that surprises me there is that I thought Robert Reed was dead by the time Super Password was on, but I suppose I'm not estimating the date of his death very accurately.[/quote]
According to imdb, Robert Reed died in 1992. I guess you're just not a very Brady fan or you would have remembered both A Very Brady Christmas (1988) and the series The Bradys (1990). I didn't remember the exact years on those, but I knew they were around the late '80s to early '90s, which, of course, means Reed was alive and well during the SP years.

Am I sounding too much like Zach now? Perish the thought!

BrandonFG · « **Reply #14 on:** July 29, 2003, 11:40:56 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 29 2003, 10:34 AM\'] The only thing that surprises me there is that I thought Robert Reed was dead by the time Super Password was on, but I suppose I'm not estimating the date of his death very accurately. [/quote]
Not trying to be a know-it-all, but he died c. 92.