Gil Fates; Producer of Top TV Game, Panel Shows

Gil Fates, 86, the host of the first regular game show on television who went on to produce some of the medium’s most popular game and panel shows. Born in Newark, N.J., Fates graduated from the University of Virginia. He tried to break into theater, first as an actor and later as a road and stage manager, then left theater work in the late 1930s, joining CBS. “We were so brand new in those days,” he later wrote, “that the television department was just a tiny branch of the CBS setup.” He produced TV’s first regularly scheduled game show, “The CBS Television Quiz,” which debuted July 2, 1941. The show lasted one year and Fates left the airwaves about the same time to serve in the Coast Guard during World War II. He rejoined the network in 1946, hosting a variety of programs. He covered local and national elections and sporting events and hosted or produced a half-dozen quiz and game shows. He left the network in 1950 to produce “The Faye Emerson Show,” and joined Goodson-Todman Productions three years later. In his 35 years at the firm he brought viewers “Beat the Clock,” “To Tell the Truth” and “I’ve Got a Secret.” He produced “What’s My Line?” for its entire 25-year run. During the 1980s and ‘90s, Fates traveled the world supervising foreign-language versions of “Family Feud,” “Password” and “The Match Game.” A longtime resident of Greenwich, Conn., Fates died May 1 in Manhattan.