Bill Leyden

Bill Leyden (died March 11, 1970) was a television game show host and announcer who emceed aix game shows, including "It Could Be You" (1956-62), "Your First Impression" (1962-64), and "You're Putting Me On" (1969). In addition, he hosted movies on KTTV, and in fact played small roles in a handful of motion pictures, including Jerry Lewis' "The Patsy" (1964).

During his run on "It Could Be You", Leyden was touted by announcer Wendell Niles as "the man who will amaze you with what he knows about you", [http://outtacontext.com/life/notes/loc/nbctranscript.html] partly because Leyden was often helped onstage and in the audience by well-concealed TelePrompters and "a team of spies and operatives" who investigated potential contestants. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2342/is_2_35/ai_97074190/pg_10]

Although he was an extremely popular, both in front of the camera and behind the microphone, Leyden's chronic health problems limited his on-screen work in the latter half of the 1960s (Bill Cullen and Larry Blyden filled in for Leyden on "You're Putting Me On", with Blyden becoming the permanent host of the show when Leyden suffered a brain hemorrhage in September 1969).

Before his first game show, Leyden was announcer for the syndicated radio series "The Liberace Program" (1954-55). For his contributions on television, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. According to disk jockey listings found in Variety, he was an announcer at KMPC, Los Angeles in 1947.

Game shows

*You're Putting Me On (1969) - NBC
*Let's Face It (1967) - syndicated
*Call My Bluff (1963-1964) - NBC
*Your First Impression (1962-1963) - NBC
*It Could Be You (1956-1961) - NBC - had both daytime and nighttime versions
*Musical Chairs (1955) - NBC - summertime series

External links

*imdb name|0508017