Bud Collyer
| Bud Collyer | |
|---|---|
Collyer in 1962.
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| Born |
Clayton Johnson Heermance, Jr. June 18, 1908 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 8, 1969 (aged 61) Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Radio Announcer/Game Show Host |
| Years active | 1940–1969 |
| Spouse(s) | Heloise Law Green (1936-1951) (divorced) 3 children Marian Shockley (1952-1969) (his death) |
Bud Collyer (June 18, 1908 – September 8, 1969) was an American radio actor/announcer who became one of the nation's first major television game show stars. He is best remembered for his work as the first host of the TV game shows Beat the Clock and To Tell the Truth, but he was also famous in the roles of Clark Kent/Superman on radio and in animated shorts.
Collyer was born Clayton Johnson Heermance, Jr. in Manhattan, to Clayton Johnson Heermance and Caroline Collyer. He originally sought a career in law, attending Williams College where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity, and Fordham University law school. Though he became a law clerk after his graduation, making as much in a month of radio as he did in a year of clerking convinced him to make broadcasting his career, changing his surname and becoming a familiar voice on all three major radio networks by 1940.
He held starring or major supporting roles in The Man I Married (as Adam Waring);Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy (as Tom);Pretty Kitty Kelly (as Michael Conway);Terry and the Pirates (as Pat Ryan); Renfrew of the Mounted (as Renfrew); and Abie's Irish Rose (as Abie Levy). He also was the announcer for a number of radio soap operas, including The Guiding Light and The Goldbergs.
Collyer's best-remembered radio starring role began in early 1940 in The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Broadcasting System, a role he also performed in the subsequent Superman cartoons. Collyer supplied the voices of both Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent, opposite radio actress Joan Alexander as Lois Lane. Every Superman episode featured a scene in which Clark Kent changed into his Superman costume, an effect which Collyer conveyed by shifting voices while speaking the phrase "This is (or "looks like") a job for Superman!" Collyer's voice shifted by an octave whenever he made the transition from the one identity to the other.
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