Bergen Evans

Bergen Baldwin Evans (September 19, 1904 – February 4, 1978) was a Northwestern University professor of English, and a television host. He received a George Foster Peabody Award in 1957 for excellence in broadcasting for his CBS TV series The Last Word.

Bergen Evans was born in Franklin, Ohio, the son of Rice Kemper Evans, a doctor, and Louise Cass Evans. He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1924 from Miami University. He received his master's degree (1925) and doctorate (1932) from Harvard University, and was a Rhodes Scholar at University College, Oxford, in 1930. He was married to Jean Whinery on August 5, 1939.

Evans began his teaching career as an instructor of English at Northwestern University in September 1932, and he remained there until his retirement in 1974. An author of short stories, he also was a feature writer for The American Mercury (1947–1950) and wrote a column called "The Skeptics Corner".

Evans became known as the question supervisor, or "authority," for the television series $64,000 Question. His books include Word-A-Day Vocabulary Builder (1963), and the annotated Dictionary of Quotations (1968).

In the first half of the 1953–1954 television season, Evans hosted the ABC panel discussion series Of Many Things, which items of interest to the public. Mitch Miller, the band leader, was among his guests. Bergen also hosted the DuMont version of Down You Go (1951–1955).

Evans's A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage (1957), cowritten with his sister Cornelia, produced an apparent spin-off: the television show The Last Word, which he hosted Sundays on CBS, from 1957 to 1959.

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