November 4, 2024

Charles Van Doren, a Quiz Show Whiz Who Wasn’t, Dies at 93

In later years, Mr. Van Doren wrote a number of books, including “The Joy of Reading” (1985), a collection of his essays on books that he had loved, and “A History of Knowledge” (1991), a nonacademic examination of the development of human enlightenment.

In an article he wrote about the scandal for The New Yorker in 2008, Mr. Van Doren recalled that he had not even owned a television set in the quiz-show era. He said he had met Albert Freedman, a producer of “Twenty-One,” through a mutual friend, and that Mr. Freedman, impressed by his poise and telegenic appearance, had broached the idea of going on television by asking what he thought of “Tic-Tac-Dough,” another show that Mr. Freedman and Dan Enright produced. Later, the two producers urged Mr. Van Doren to challenge the incumbent “Twenty-One” champion, Herb Stempel, whom he later dethroned.

In the New Yorker article, Mr. Van Doren also disclosed that after his fall from grace his father had given him a present: a gyroscope with a quotation from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” by the character called Feste, a clown wise enough to play the fool and tell the truth. “I knew he was saying that I, too, would survive and somehow find a way back,” he wrote. “I just hugged him and said, ‘Thank you, Papa.’ ”

Charles Lincoln Van Doren was born in Manhattan on Feb. 12, 1926. He and his younger brother, John, were raised in a milieu of literary figures: Franklin P. Adams, Joseph Wood Krutch, Sinclair Lewis and others.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/obituaries/charles-van-doren-dead.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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