Bernie Smith, ‘Bet Your Life’ Writer, Dies

Bernie Smith, whose long career as a writer included a 15 years with Groucho Marx’s popular radio and television game show “You Bet Your Life,” died Tuesday in his home of lung cancer. He was 75.

Smith produced, co-directed and was head writer for the program, which ran from 1947 to 1962. Lifelong friend George Fenneman, 70, the show’s announcer, described Smith as an extremely creative man with a dry sense of humor.

“He was wry, with a twinkle in his eye,” Fenneman said. “And he was kind of mischievous. There was a little bit of a devil in him. He always said, ‘I put on my pants like any other man, one cloven hoof at a time.’ ”

Smith most recently worked for five years as a columnist on the Laguna Niguel and Dana Point editions of the South Orange County News, a group of weekly newspapers. He was a longtime advocate of Laguna Niguel’s recent incorporation and as a result the newly formed Laguna Niguel City Council proclaimed his birthday last Dec. 21 as Bernie Smith Day.

“In person, he was like his column,” said Christopher Meyer, editor of the South Orange County News. “He was witty, sarcastic, and he really knew how to turn a good line.”

Smith is survived by his wife of 41 years, Ruby, a daughter and a son.

Smith and his wife, a real estate agent, had moved to Laguna Niguel eight years ago from their longtime home in Sherman Oaks. The couple were active in the Lakeside Country Club and produced its annual variety show.

A San Diego native, Smith began his writing career as a reporter for the now-defunct San Diego Sun newspaper. He then moved north to write for the Los Angeles Examiner, and later began writing radio scripts.

Smith joined “You Bet Your Life” as a writer when it began as a radio program in 1947. He stayed with the production when it moved to NBC Television in 1950, Fenneman said.

Despite consistent top-10 Nielsen ratings, NBC canceled the program in 1962. It is still syndicated as “The Best of Groucho.”