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Jim Perry dies at 82; host of ‘Card Sharks’ and other TV game shows

Jim Perry hosted "Card Sharks" from 1978 until 1981. He also hosted "$ale of the Century" and other game shows in the U.S. and Canada.

Jim Perry hosted “Card Sharks” from 1978 until 1981. He also hosted “$ale of the Century” and other game shows in the U.S. and Canada.

(Graham Bezant / Getty Images)
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Jim Perry, a former game show host on NBC’s “Card Sharks,” “Sale of the Century” and other shows, mostly in Canada, has died. He was 82.

The cause of his death Friday at his home in Ashland, Ore., was cancer, his family said in a statement.

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FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this obituary said that Perry worked in Armed Forces Radio during World War II. He did so during the Korean War.

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Born James Dooley in Camden, N.J., on Nov. 9, 1933, Perry attended the University of Pennsylvania and worked in Armed Forces Radio during the Korean War. For several years, he sang in Las Vegas and toured with comedian Sid Caesar. He broke into Canadian TV in 1965 as host of a game show called “Fractured Phrases.”

From 1967 to 1990, he emceed the Miss Canada pageant and became known for his rendition of “The Fairest Girl in Canada” as the winner was crowned. In 1975, a woman protesting the contest targeted Perry with a sack of flour.

Perry hosted “Headline Hunters” and “Definition” before breaking into the U.S. market with “Card Sharks” in 1978 and “Sale of the Century” from 1983 to 1989.

After a period of introspection, he left TV and wrote self-help books.

“I’ve always had self-confidence,” he told the Toronto Star in 1992. “I knew what I could do. What I did not have was self-love. I couldn’t look into the dark corners of myself and say, ‘That’s okay — that’s me, too.”

He told the newspaper that he’d turned down job offers on several American game shows.

“I don’t want to deal with people dressed up as bananas,” he said. “l’d like to do something literate, something that maybe brings a little uplift to television.”

Perry is survived by his wife of 56 years, June Perry; son Sean; daughter Erin; and three grandchildren.

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news.obits@latimes.com

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