Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards was born on February 13, 1931 in Westfield, New Jersey, USA as Geoffrey Bruce Owen Edwards.

At age 18, he graduated from Westfield High School in Westfield, New Jersey, in 1949.

Before he was a successful game show host, while in college, he was a radio announcer for a station in Albany, New York, continuing for a few years after graduating, then moving to California by 1956.

(November 24, 1963) While being a radio news reporter for KHJ Radio in Los Angeles, he found himself involved in the year's biggest story not long after he arrived, being dispatched to Dallas to cover the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While covering the story, he was present when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, and in fact, was interviewed by NBC's national correspondent, Tom Pettit, for NBC's coverage of the incident.

Edwards was one of four game show hosts to have emceed a game show in the United States and another in Canada at the same time. The other three were Howie Mandel, Alex Trebek and Jim Perry. Mandel and Trebek are native Canadians, and Perry, although born in New Jersey USA, had legal residency status in Canada, due to his family living in Toronto for most of the 1970s, and maintaining a home in Toronto, even after moving back to the USA. Because of no legal ties to Canada, Edwards was the only one required, by the Canadian Government, to have a Canadian co-host.

He met fellow game show host, Wink Martindale, when they were both working at KMPC Radio in Los Angeles, California, prior to Edwards becoming a successful game show host in 1971. Also among the staff at that station were Gary Owens, Dick Whittinghill, Robert W. Morgan and Sonny Melendrez.

Because his wedding ceremony took place on his birthday, he and his wife, Michael Feffer, celebrated both his birthday, and their wedding anniversary, every February 13 for forty-one years, from 1973 until he died in March 2014.

He was offered the job of hosting the original Family Feud (1976), before Richard Dawson was hired, but had to decline because of his commitment to Bob Stewart Productions and NBC.

Missed out on being hired for the hosting job of The New Tic Tac Dough (1978) to friend and fellow game show host Wink Martindale.

His favorite game show was the short lived Play the Percentages (1980). Geoff got the job as its host, without auditioning, because of his friendship with producer and show owner Jack Barry of Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions.

When he replaced Mark Richards, as host of video arcade game show, Starcade (1982), in September 1983, Geoff had not yet played video games. Unlike Richards, he grew to love video games, continuing to play them until he died. His favorites, back in the day, were "Sinistar;" Le Bagnard (1982); Hamburger (1982); Super Burger Time (1990); and Change Lanes (1983). He had a difficult time with Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) and Pengo (1982).

Filled-in, over one full week of five episodes, for Monty Hall on Let's Make a Deal (1984), due to Hall's suffering from laryngitis. However, this was not five actual days of work, due to game shows typically filming multiple episodes in one day.

Replaced Chuck Woolery, as the second host of The Big Spin (1985), while the show was still in its first year of production, and stayed with the show for ten seasons, through his announced retirement at the end of the show's eleventh season in 1995.

He guest-starred on the last episode of Trapper John, M.D.: Elusive Butterfly (1986), which was broadcast on September 4, 1986, where he played the host of a lottery game show.

When the third incarnation of Jackpot (1989) returned to the United States, producer Bob Stewart hired Edwards back, replacing Mike Darrow.

He was an actor, known for Drive (1997), WUSA (1970) and Sliders (1995). He was married to Michael Feffer and Suzanne Weaver Ford.

In 2009, he received the Ralph Edwards Award for Service to Broadcasting at the Game Show Congress Convention in Los Angeles, California.

On February 13, 2013, he and his wife, Michael Feffer, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. They tied the knot on February 13, 1973, Geoff's forty-second birthday.

Geoff Edwards died on March 5, 2014, just one week after friend and fellow game show host Jim Lange died.