Jack in September 1980...
Jack Clark (November 25, 1925 – July 21, 1988 from St. Joseph, Missouri) was a long-time announcer and emcee whose hosting duties included the game shows 100 Grand (1963), Dealer's Choice (1974-75; Bob Hastings did the first month), and The Cross-Wits (1975-80). He also filled in as emcee of Password (1962-63/1965), To Tell the Truth (1963), The Price Is Right (March 1965), and Eye Guess (October 21, 1966; regular host Bill Cullen and his wife Ann played as part of a celebrity week).
Clark's announcing duties included Password (1960s), Split Second (1972-75, also hosting rehearsal games), Second Chance (1977), The $25,000 Pyramid (1982-85), and The $100,000 Pyramid (1985-88) among others.
In 1980, he competed with other game show hosts in a special tournament on Card Sharks with Jim Perry (see photo at right).
Game Show Pilots[]
Jack frequently hosted pilots and runthroughs for little or no compensation, including Split Second (1965), The Face Is Familiar (1965), Celebrity Doubletalk (1967), The $10,000 Sweep (1972), Twenty Questions (1975), Big Spenders (1975), Mindreaders (1975), Rhyme and Reason (1981), Caught in the Act (1982), and Now You See It (1985). He was also the on-location host of Second Guessers in 1969.
Clark also did announcing duties on You're Putting Me On (1969), Monday Night Quarterback (1970), Twisters (1982), and $50,000 a Minute (1985).
Wheel of Fortune[]
...and October 1986.
Jack was the show's second official announcer, beginning on August 11, 1980 following the announced-but-retracted cancellation. Original announcer Charlie O'Donnell had left to work on The Toni Tennille Show, with Don Morrow filling in for the week of August 4.
Clark concurrently announced on the nighttime run when it began in 1983, and is known to have missed a few shows in 1983 and Fall 1985, the latter comprising 10 episodes (and missed due to a scheduling conflict with Pyramid). Charlie filled in for these shows, and Clark resigned from Pyramid in 1985 to avoid further conflicts.
Jack stayed with both versions through mid-Spring 1988, with Charlie and Johnny Gilbert filling in over the next several months. Early nighttime Summer reruns had Clark recording new fee plugs, but it soon became evident that he was too ill to continue (at least one rerun from this timespan has a very weak-sounding Jack reading the fee plugs); as a result, Pat Sajak and Vanna White read them for the rest of the Summer.
M. G. Kelly took over as announcer on a regular basis starting on September 5 (nighttime)/September 21 (daytime), filling the role until Charlie's permanent return in early 1989.
Death[]
Jack died at the age of 62 in Los Angeles, California from bone cancer. The show eulogized him on both the daytime and nighttime versions:
- Pat gave a brief tribute to him before Round 2 of the September 5, 1988 nighttime episode, although this appears to have been edited in.
- On the September 2, 1988 daytime episode, the entire next-to-last segment of the show consisted of Pat and Vanna paying tribute to him while showing photos of him at work. In addition, Merv Griffin's "I Remember the Child" played over the credits in place of "Changing Keys", and Charlie signed off by saying "This show is dedicated to the memory of Jack Clark."
Other than GSN repeats, Clark appears from time to time in syndication or on cable networks through his 1986 cameos on Wheel-related episodes of The A-Team and 227 (which involved the daytime and nighttime shows, respectively).