31 Facts About Gene Rayburn

Gene Rayburn is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show Match Game for over two decades.

Gene Rayburn had an elder brother, Alfred, who was killed when Rayburn was a child, and a younger half-brother, Milan Rubessa Jr.

Gene Rayburn graduated from Lindblom Technical High School and attended Knox College.

An aspiring actor and opera singer, Gene Rayburn moved to New York City but was unable to find stage work.

Gene Rayburn found a job as a page and tour guide at NBC studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza instead.

Gene Rayburn enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served in World War II.

Gene Rayburn had a morning drive time radio show in New York City, first with Jack Lescoulie and later with Dee Finch on WNEW.

At one point in his stage career, Gene Rayburn's stand-in was future Match Game panelist Charles Nelson Reilly.

Gene Rayburn first appeared on Robert Q Lewis's The Name's the Same; Rayburn frequently sat in for regular panelist Carl Reiner.

On radio, Gene Rayburn became one of the many hosts of the NBC program Monitor in 1961 and remained with the show until 1973.

Gene Rayburn returned as host and introduced a new format in which two contestants tried to match the responses of six celebrities.

Gene Rayburn was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host.

Gene Rayburn commuted to California every two weeks to tape 12 shows over the course of a weekend.

Gene Rayburn hosted the Match Game and "Super Match" segments and sat on the panel for the Hollywood Squares segment, which was hosted by Jon Bauman.

Three years after the original Match Game was canceled, Gene Rayburn hosted the short-lived Heatter-Quigley Productions show The Amateur's Guide to Love.

In 1980, Gene Rayburn was a guest star on the television show The Love Boat.

Gene Rayburn appeared as a contestant during a tournament of game show hosts on the original version of Card Sharks in 1980 and was a celebrity guest on Password Plus several times between 1980 and 1982.

Gene Rayburn ended his brief tenure to return as co-host of Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour.

Just before production was to begin on a new Gene Rayburn-emceed Match Game revival in 1987, an Entertainment Tonight reporter publicly disclosed that Gene Rayburn was 69 years old, much older than many believed.

Gene Rayburn had trouble finding jobs after that, blaming the reporter for revealing his age and subjecting him to age discrimination.

Gene Rayburn portrayed himself on a Saturday Night Live sketch in 1990, which featured Susan Lucci.

Gene Rayburn returned as one of Kane's many previous husbands, to stop another marriage with the host of a game show portrayed by Phil Hartman.

In 1992, Gene Rayburn made an appearance on New York shock jock Howard Stern's late-night TV variety show as one of the stars of his Hollywood Squares parody, Homeless Howiewood Squares, in which homeless people were supposedly the contestants.

Gene Rayburn was married to Helen Ticknor from 1940 until her death in October 1996.

One of Gene Rayburn's last TV appearances was a 1998 interview with Access Hollywood intended to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Match Game '73.

Gene Rayburn identified as a liberal politically and was a supporter of Planned Parenthood.

Gene Rayburn was concerned that human overpopulation would become an issue in the 21st century and that it would become more difficult to supply resources such as food if the population grew too large.

Gene Rayburn expressed these concerns when he appeared on Game Show Hosts week on Card Sharks in 1980, where he played for Planned Parenthood as his favorite charity.

Gene Rayburn enjoyed needlepoint and did it regularly on his many flights to and from California.

Gene Rayburn took it up when he knitted socks as a gag on Rayburn and Finch.

Gene Rayburn was cremated and his ashes spread in the garden of his daughter's home.