Bob Clayton

Bob Clayton
Clayton as the host of Concentration in 1971.
Born	August 17, 1922 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Died	November 1, 1979 (aged 57) New York City, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Cardiac arrest
Occupation	Announcer, Game show host

Bob Clayton (August 17, 1922 in Atlanta, Georgia – November 1, 1979 in New York City) was an American television game show announcer and host of several shows. He spent his early television career hosting shows in Miami, Florida before moving to New York in the 1960s.

Career

After his first national hosting job on the game Make a Face (ABC, 1961–1962), Clayton assumed announcing duties on the long-running NBC game Concentration in 1963, and took over hosting duties on the show in January 1969 as successor from original emcee Hugh Downs. He was suddenly replaced in March 1969 by Ed McMahon, but later returned in September 1969 after viewer outrage and declining audience ratings. Wayne Howell replaced Clayton in the announcer's booth; Clayton remained on the show until its 1973 cancellation.

Clayton also had a brief flirtation with the movies when he played the bell captain in Jerry Lewis' 1960 film, The Bellboy, which was shot on location in Miami.

Later work

After the cancellation of Concentration, Clayton served as announcer on several shows created by Bob Stewart, including the Pyramid series of games, beginning with CBS' The $10,000 Pyramid in 1973. Pyramid began airing the Monday after the final episode of Concentration aired, in the same time slot, though on another network. Other Stewart shows he did included Blankety Blanks, Shoot for the Stars and Pass the Buck.

Personal life

He was married to Tahitian dancer Mireille of the Mai-Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.^[1]

Death

Clayton died of cardiac arrest in 1979. Steve O'Brien, a New York disc jockey, took over Pyramid, and he and Alan Kalter announced the show for the remainder of its days in New York, particularly towards the end of its daytime network run on ABC-TV as The $20,000 Pyramid in 1980, and finally in first-run syndication as The $50,000 Pyramid until 1981.

References

• The Encyclopedia Of TV Game Shows, Third Edition by David Schwartz, Steve Ryan, and Fred Wostbrock (1999) Published by Checkmark Books, an imprint of Facts on File.

1. January 1965 Happy Talk magazine