Goodson-Todman Productions
| Mark Goodson | |
|---|---|
Mark Goodson
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| Born | January 14, 1915 Sacramento, California, US |
| Died | December 18, 1992 (aged 77) New York City |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley (B.S., Economics, 1937) |
| Occupation | Television producer |
| Years active | 1937–1992 |
| Known for | Early television game shows |
Mark Goodson (January 14, 1915 – December 18, 1992) was an American television producer who specialized in game shows, most frequently with his business partner Bill Todman, with whom he created Goodson-Todman Productions
Mark Goodson was born in Sacramento, California on January 14, 1915. His parents, Abraham Ellis and Fannie Goodson, emigrated from Russia in the early 1900s. As a child, Goodson acted in amateur theater with the Plaza Stock Company. The family later moved to Hayward, California. Originally intending to become a lawyer, Goodson attended the University of California, Berkeley. He financed his education through scholarships and by working at the Lincoln Fish Market. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1937 with a degree in Economics.
That year, he began his broadcasting career in San Francisco, working as a disc jockey at radio station KJBS (now known as KFAX). In 1939 he joined radio station KFRC, where he produced and hosted a radio quiz called "Pop the Question" in which contestants selected questions by throwing darts at multi-colored balloons.
Goodson and long-time partner Bill Todman produced some of the longest-running game shows in US television history. Their first television show, Winner Take All, debuted on CBS television on July 1, 1948. The long list of Goodson-Todman productions includes The Price Is Right, Family Feud, Match Game, Password, Beat the Clock, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, What's My Line?, Card Sharks, and Tattletales. The shows endured through the decades, many over multiple runs, because of Goodson's sharp eye for production and presentation. Goodson-Todman Productions/Mark Goodson Productions creates content for US channels and other international channels. (including Talbot Television Ltd. and Fremantle UK Productions Ltd.). such as CBS, NBC, and ABC in the US, BBC1, ITV (Anglia, Central, Granada, LWT, TVS, Scottish Television, and Yorkshire Television), Channel 4, and Sky One, (also Challenge TV),
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