John Lewis Gilbert III was born on July 13,1928 and is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows.
19 Facts About Johnny Gilbert
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John Lewis Johnny Gilbert III was born on July 13,1928 in Newport News, Virginia.
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Johnny Gilbert began performing by singing as a boy in his hometown Lutheran Church choir.
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Johnny Gilbert never sang opera independently, but was the regular vocalist with Shelly Harmon and His Orchestra, a group that toured the Virginia area.
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Johnny Gilbert joined the group and played throughout the southwestern United States for 16 weeks.
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Johnny Gilbert toured throughout Western Europe, performing for servicemen and civilians alike.
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Johnny Gilbert said yes, and received his first television assignment as a singer and emcee on WDSU in New Orleans.
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Johnny Gilbert went on to emcee the local game show Words and Music on KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.
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Johnny Gilbert hosted it for two years until he left Dayton on short notice for New York, where he became the host of the Metromedia-produced game show Fast Draw.
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Johnny Gilbert's slot was then given to Phil Donahue, who at that time was a reporter in WLWD-TV's news department.
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In 1963, Johnny Gilbert was selected by Mark Goodson to replace Don Pardo as the announcer and audience host for the original Bill Cullen-hosted version of The Price Is Right when it moved from NBC to ABC.
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Johnny Gilbert hosted the show for the absent Cullen on June 19,1964.
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Johnny Gilbert served as the announcer and audience host for Dinah Shore's syndicated daily talk show, which ran from 1974 to 1980.
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Johnny Gilbert briefly considered retirement after Trebek's death but chose to continue in the role.
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In recent years, Johnny Gilbert has handled much of his announcer load remotely, with a member of the Clue Crew providing in-studio announcements that are replaced with Johnny Gilbert's in post-production.
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Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Johnny Gilbert began doing his announcements in a studio built for him at his home.
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Johnny Gilbert announced on the episode that aired on April Fools' Day in 1997, as well as a few weeks of episodes in 2010 following the death of the show's longtime announcer, Charlie O'Donnell.
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Johnny Gilbert guest announced on Wheel in late 1995, when O'Donnell was ill, and on the daytime show in 1988 before the death of then-regular announcer Jack Clark.
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Johnny Gilbert substituted for Gene Wood on several Goodson-Todman game shows, including Family Feud, the CBS version of Card Sharks, and Child's Play.