John Davidson (entertainer)

For other people named John Davidson, see John Davidson (disambiguation).

John Davidson
Born	John Hamilton Davidson December 13, 1941 (1941-12-13) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Actor, singer, game show host
Years active	1958–2005

John Hamilton Davidson, Sr. (born December 13, 1941) is an American singer, actor and game show host known for hosting That's Incredible!, Time Machine, and Hollywood Squares in the 1980s, and a revival of The $100,000 Pyramid in 1991.

Biography

Davidson was born to two Baptist ministers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from high school in White Plains, New York before entering Denison University. His boyish good looks, broad smile, and telegenic charm gained him entry to such TV venues as sitcoms, game shows, variety shows, and talk shows^{[citation needed]}. He is perhaps best known for hosting 1980-84's That's Incredible!, a human interest/stunt-themed series created in the tradition of the 1950s TV show You Asked for It^{[citation needed]}.

During an appearance on the game show Scrabble in 1987, he told the national TV audience that he appeared as an underwear model in the 1959 Sears catalogue; he would have been 17 at the time^{[citation needed]}. Davidson made his Broadway debut in the 1964 production of Foxy, which starred Bert Lahr^{[citation needed]}. He also appeared in State Fair in 1996. He was a member of the regular repertory company on the short-lived CBS variety show The Entertainers (1964–65)^{[citation needed]}. He made more than one hundred appearances on the original Hollywood Squares during its 1966–1981 run^{[citation needed]}. He was a regular player on many anthology and variety series of the 1970s-1980s, including such shows as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Bobby Goldsboro Show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, Love American Style, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Spenser: For Hire. Davidson also hosted the eponymously-named, The John Davidson Show from 1980-1982.

In 1974, Davidson guest starred on the TV show The Streets of San Francisco in the episode "Mask of Death", portraying a cross-dressing lounge singer who murders his/her fans^{[citation needed]}. In the episode, Davidson sings in drag impersonating such notables as Carol Channing, singing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend". In 1974, Davidson posed near-nude (with a strategically placed towel) for the magazine Cosmopolitan.

In the late 1970s, the actor became one of four regular guest hosts (along with Joey Bishop, McLean Stevenson and Joan Rivers) on The Tonight Show. The performer hosted his own talk show, produced by Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W which aired daily in syndication from 1980 to 1982. In 1985, he hosted the NBC daytime game show, Time Machine.

He later hosted a revival of Hollywood Squares, which ran from 1986 to 1989. In addition to his stint as host, Davidson has made numerous "Hollywood Squares" appearances, and is considered the greatest bluffer in the history of the show. No one was more convincing at getting contestants to believe his (often ridiculous) answers to questions posed by Peter Marshall. Most times, Marshall could barely contain his laughter as Davidson started in on some long-winded but seemingly true explanation for his answer, often prefaced with something to the effect of: "I just read about that in the New England Journal of Medicine, it was a fascinating study, and it said that...". Davidson sold these preposterous stories with such sincerity that contestants agreed with him multiple times in a show, even after having been fooled earlier in the program.

In addition, he also hosted a 170-episode revival of The $100,000 Pyramid in 1991. Davidson also appeared on the Carpenters Television specials "Space Encounters" (1977) and "Music! Music! Music!" (1980).

Davidson has recorded twelve albums and performed in various musicals. His latest album CD John Hamilton Davidson Is a Funny Guy was released late 2006 to show both his skills at comedy and singing. He acted in many movies including The Happiest Millionaire (1967), The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), Coffee, Tea or Me (1973), The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979), Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders II (1980), and Edward Scissorhands (1990), as well as the sitcom The Girl with Something Extra (1973–74) with Sally Field. John was also a featured guest on several of The Carpenters' TV specials.

He was the scheduled headline act at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, the night the structure burned down, killing 165 persons, on May 28, 1977. He was not injured and later participated in a charity concert to raise funds for the families of fire victims.

Davidson has appeared in recent productions of "A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to the Forum", "Kismet, "State Fair", "Man of La Mancha", & "Chicago", and, most recently, "Will Rogers' Follies", at the Surflight Theatre in Long Beach Island, NJ. He is also performing in his own play "Father/Son and Holy Ghost" an autobiographical play about his relationship with his father who was a minister, which received generally negative reviews. Davidson is one of the most popular musical performers never to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 (Pop) chart.^{[citation needed]} He has placed several singles on their "Adult Contemporary" survey, the most popular being "Everytime I Sing A Love Song", which reached #7 in 1976.

In July 1991, Davidson appeared in summer stock with Sacramento Music Circus of Sacramento, California in The Music Man alongside Susan Watson, Richard Paul, Carol Swarbrick and the Delta Music Society Quartet of Sacramento. A few trivia notes: John has said that The Music Man was his favorite show to do. When playing Professor Harold Hill, he had the holes of his pitch pipe taped so that the only open hole was for the pitch he needed to blow; on one occasion, the barbershop quartet's bass (Chuck Kenney) had a working pitch pipe to loan him on stage when John's didn't work. John also owned a copy of the famous booklet "Captain Billy's Whizbang" (mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Trouble") which he carried with him in the production.

Davidson and his wife, Rhonda, have three children, and now live in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• John Davidson at the Internet Movie Database
• John Davidson at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Davidson Website

Media offices
Preceded by Dick Clark	Host of Pyramid 1991	Succeeded by Donny Osmond
Preceded by Jon Bauman in the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (1983–1984)	Host of Hollywood Squares 1986–1989	Succeeded by Tom Bergeron in the 1998–2004 version