- Wendell Niles
Wendell Niles (1905 –
March 28 ,1994 ) was one of the great announcers of the golden age ofradio . He was an announcer on such shows as "The Bob Hope Show", "The Burns & Allen Show", "The Milton Berle Show " and "The Chase & Sanborn Show".He got his start touring in the 1920s with his own orchestra, playing with the
Dorsey Brothers andBix Beiderbecke .Niles moved to
Los Angeles, California in 1935 to joinGeorge Burns andGracie Allen .He and his brother, Ken, developed one of the first radio dramas, which eventually became "Theatre of the Mind".
He toured with
Bob Hope duringWorld War II and narrated a 1936 Academy Award-winning short film on the life of tennis greatBill Tilden .Among his
film credits is "Knute Rockne: All American" withRonald Reagan .Niles was also the original announcer for "
Let's Make a Deal " during that show's first season in 1963 and 1964; he would later be replaced withJay Stewart .Wendell and his brother brother Ken Niles are the first brothers to have stars on the hollywood walk of fame.He died of
cancer in hisToluca Lake home at the age of 89.References
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E3D8143FF932A05750C0A962958260 Obituary] in
The New York Times , March 31, 1994. Retrieved onMay 3 ,2008 .
* [http://www.variety.com/article/VR119771.html?categoryid=25&cs=1 Obituary] in Variety, March 30, 1994. Retrieved onMay 3 ,2008 .External links
*imdb name|id=0632057|name=Wendell Niles
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
