Gene Rayburn Biography

Gene Rayburn was a television game show host known for the various incarnations of Match Game between 1962 and 1982.

An aspiring singer, Rayburn became a radio disc jockey after World War II. He went from being a morning DJ to becoming the announcer for The Steve Allen Show (1953-59).

Rayburn hosted many TV game shows from the 1950s through the 1980s, including Make the Connection (1955), Dough Re Mi (1958-60), and Break the Bank (1985-86).

Gene Rayburn’s signature show was surely The Match Game, in which celebrity panelists offered answers to sometimes naughty fill-in-the-blank questions in an effort to match contestants’ answers.

Rayburn, the jolly ringleader, traded bawdy laugh lines with panelists like Richard Dawson, Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly.

Extended reruns of the show made Rayburn an enduring game show icon.