Art Fleming

Arthur Fleming Fazzin (May 1, 1924 – April 25, 1995), more well known as Art Fleming, was an American actor and television host. He was the original host of the television game show Jeopardy!, hosting its first 3 versions as both a network show on NBC (1964-1975; 1978-1979) and a weekly syndicated show (1974-1975).

Fleming was born in New York City.^[1] His parents, William and Marie Fazzin, had immigrated to the United States from Austria. They were a popular dance team in Europe and brought their show to America. Their son Art was a varsity letterman football player at James Monroe High School in New York City,^[2] standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m), weighing 220 pounds (100 kg). He later attended Colgate and Cornell Universities,^[2] starring on the football team, as well as the water polo teams at both colleges. Fleming was a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Navy for three and a half years as the pilot of a patrol bomber in the Atlantic.^[2]

After leaving the Navy, Fleming became an announcer at a radio station in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Here, he changed his name to "Art Fleming". His radio career later took him to Akron, Ohio, and back home to New York. He was the first announcer to deliver the slogan "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should" for Winston cigarettes.^[3]

Fleming's first television role was as a stunt double for Ralph Bellamy in the detective series Man Against Crime. In 1959 he starred as detective Ken Franklin in the ABC TV series International Detective^[4], credited as Arthur Fleming. He also played attorney Jeremy Pitt in The Californians^[5], an NBC Western set in San Francisco during the gold rush of the 1850s. Fleming also appeared in many television commercials, in addition to anchoring the eleven o’clock news on WNBC.^[6]

In 1964, Fleming was living in New York City when he was contacted by Merv Griffin regarding his availability to host a daytime game show^[7]. Griffin and his wife Julann had spotted Art on a commercial for Trans World Airlines^[8] where Griffin thought Fleming was "authoritative, yet warm and interesting"^[9]. Fleming took the audition and competed against 2 other people for the job of hosting the new show^[7]. It was during this time that the show got its name, 'Jeopardy!'. The choice of which of the 3 candidates would be host was decided by show of hands in a meeting of 5 people (3 NBC executives, Merv Griffin & one of Griffin's associates). At the end of this meeting, Fleming had been selected as host^[7].

Jeopardy! was filmed at the NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City and began its original run on March 30th, 1964 at 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time with Fleming hosting opposite announcer Don Pardo. The show was a success from the start, appealing to working folks and college students on their lunch break. In 1965, the show was moved to 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time which proved to be its most popular time slot. Due to the success of the show, Fleming was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host at the 1st Daytime Emmy Awards in 1974.^[10] During his tenure as host of Jeopardy!, Fleming never missed a taping.

Because he hosted a quiz show, and in part because he was an avid reader with multiple college degrees, Fleming earned a reputation as being a storehouse of trivia. Despite this, Fleming was self-admittedly a terrible game player even at the show (Jeopardy!) which he called his profession:

"If I didn't have that sheet in front of me you wouldn't find me in the studio" - Fleming, 1990^[11]

While appearing as a guest star on Hollywood Squares (Jeopardy!'s lead in from 1966 until 1975), Fleming was once selected as the "secret square". His question was, "In 1938, who won the Wimbledon women's tennis championship?" Fleming picked Helen Wills Moody, one of the three choices read to him. The female contestant (who had selected Fleming) turned to Hollywood Squares MC Peter Marshall, saying, "Art Fleming would never lie! I agree!" He was right, and the contestant won $11,000. Fleming later said he did not know a thing about tennis and had guessed the answer. He hoped the contestant would disagree, thinking he was wrong.

Jeopardy! was successful until 1974 when Lin Bolen, then Vice President of Daytime Programming for NBC, decided the show had run its course and had to be cancelled.^[12] Part of Bolen's reasoning for dumping the show was Art Fleming himself as she believed him to be too old to attract younger viewers.^[12] In January of 1974 the show was moved to 10:30 AM Eastern Standard Time where it lost most of its core audience yet still managed to beat its competition. In July, the show was moved again, this time to 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. With this move, Jeopardy! lost whatever core audience it still had and the show was cancelled soon after. The original Jeopardy! aired its 2,753rd and last show on January 3rd, 1975.

Merv Griffin unsuccessfully attempted a weekly syndicated version of Jeopardy!, with Fleming as host, close to the end of the original show's run to keep the show alive. Airing 39 shows between late 1974 and early 1975, it was not renewed. In 1978, Jeopardy! was revived as a network show on NBC, this time filming at the NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Despite Fleming returning as host, format changes and difficulty with time slots meant that the show could not find an audience and was cancelled after 108 shows.

At the conclusion of Fleming's tenure as host of Jeopardy!, he had hosted around 2,900 shows. After Jeopardy!'s cancellation in both 1975 & 1979, Fleming returned to acting. In 1977 he played the role of Harry Truman's Secretary of Commerce W. Averell Harriman in the movie MacArthur starring Gregory Peck, and appeared in the comedy film Prime Time (Originally known as American Raspberry)^[13]. He also appeared in an episode of the TV police drama Starsky and Hutch, where he played the role of closeted Police Lieutenant John Blaine in the episode 'Death in a Different Place' (Season 3, Episode 6)^[14], as well as episodes of shows such as Kingston: Confidential^[15] and the 1976 TV miniseries The Moneychangers.^[16]

Fleming also hosted a radio version of College Bowl for CBS Radio from 1979 to 1982. He hosted the NBC radio weekend magazine Monitor during 1972. Fleming reprised his role as host of Jeopardy! in the 1982 movie Airplane II: The Sequel and in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video "I Lost on Jeopardy". Fleming was also often called upon to host mock versions of Jeopardy! at trade shows and conventions.

When Merv Griffin began developing a new revival of Jeopardy! in 1983, he decided not to invite Fleming back as host.^[17] As a result, Alex Trebek was offered the position when suggested by Lucille Ball and hosted the program until his death in 2020.^[17][18] Fleming claimed in interviews he had turned down the position of hosting the revival despite not having been considered in the first place.^[19]

In interviews conducted in the early years of the Trebek version, he stated that he disliked the show's new direction and the various changes that the revival's producers had made. He disapproved of moving production from his native New York to Los Angeles, suggesting to a Sports Illustrated journalist in 1989 that filming in California made the show feel superficial and anti-intellectual^[20]. He also claimed that the new show was too easy and he feuded publicly with the staff of the modern Jeopardy! over the nature of its trivia, as he believed that the writers were inserting hints to make correct questions seem obvious and easy to guess.^[11] Despite his disagreements, Fleming believed the modern version was one of the better shows on television.

Around 1980, Fleming was recommended to KMOX radio station in St. Louis by Bob Costas.^[11] From 1980 to until his retirement in 1992, Fleming hosted a daily radio talk show on KMOX.^[2][19] On Sunday evenings, he occasionally co-hosted Trivia Spectacular with David Strauss, a St. Louis schoolteacher.^[19] He also hosted the syndicated radio program When Radio Was from 1990 until shortly before his death. Fleming's final prominent hosting of a game show was two installments of the PBS science program NOVA as part of the National Science Test, where a studio audience tested their knowledge of science against a celebrity panel.^[21]

Fleming was a devout Christian. He served as a deacon at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City^[22] and was friends with Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller.^[19]

Fleming married Mildred Goodrich in 1946 in North Carolina.^[23] They had a daughter Jan.^[24] In 1954 he married actress Peggy Ann Ellis, who worked on The Merv Griffin Show. Fleming denied having any children in a 1974 interview, conducted after his divorce from Ellis.^[25] Despite insisting he would never marry again after his divorce from Ellis,^[25] Fleming married Becky Lynn in a private ceremony at Norman Vincent Peale's home. He soon adopted Becky's two children from a prior marriage. Together they had five grandchildren.

In 1992, Fleming retired and the family moved to Crystal River, Florida. He remained active in charity work: he hosted fundraising videos for the Citrus County United Way and became involved with the Citrus County Abuse Shelter Association, Inc. (where Becky served as director). He also hosted a syndicated television program, called Senior America, which showcased seniors and senior activities.

Fleming died of pancreatic cancer on April 25, 1995, at age 70, at his home in Florida.^[26] According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, he had been diagnosed with cancer two weeks before his death.^[26] He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.^[27] More than 25 years later, on November 8, 2020, his successor on Jeopardy!, Alex Trebek, died of the same disease at the age of 80.^[28][29]

As Jeopardy!'s original host, the show is perhaps what Fleming is mostly remembered for. In life, he was considered by many to be the face of the show even after Alex Trebek took over as host. An article from The Washington Post written on the day of Fleming's death in 1995 stated:

"Who will always be the embodiment of "Jeopardy!" even if Alex Trebek plays the role for another 40 years?" - The Washington Post, April 25th, 1995^[30]

Due to network tape wiping practices in the 1960s and 1970s, only a fraction of Jeopardy! episodes hosted by Fleming currently exist, and only a fraction of these exist as full color videotapes. Despite this, there have been many recent efforts to uncover lost episodes of Fleming's tenure.

Jeopardy!

Broadcast of Jeopardy!

• Art Fleming at IMDb