The $64,000 Question

Louis Cowan – In addition to (1949–1951) and Stop the Music (1949–52, 1954–56), Cowan also created Down You Go (1951–1956) and the short-lived Ask Me Another (1952). Cowan briefly served as CBS Television Network president before leaving in the wake of the quiz show scandals. He later joined the faculty of the Columbia University school of journalism. He and his wife Polly were killed in an apartment fire in New York City in 1976. Lou Cowan's son Geoffrey later produced brief revivals of Quiz Kids in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and is currently dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.

Quiz Kids

Hal March – The former comic actor who became an overnight star on Question continued to appear as an actor in television and movies throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Shortly after he signed on as host of in 1969, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in 1970, four months short of his 50th birthday.

It's Your Bet

Irwin "Sonny" Fox – The first Challenge host was also known at the time for co-hosting the CBS children's travelogue Let's Take a Trip (Fox described it as "Taking two children on sort of an electronic field trip every week–live, remote location, no audience, no sponsors"), but his fame rests predominantly on his eight-year (1959–1967) tour as the suave, congenial and dryly witty fourth host of New York's Sunday morning children's learn-and-laugh marathon, . Fox hosted Way Out Games (1976–1977), a Saturday-morning series for CBS, then later spent a year (1977–1978) running children's programming for NBC and eventually became a chairman of the board for Population Communications International, a nonprofit dedicated to "technical assistance, research and training consultation to governments, NGOs and foundations on a wide range of social marketing and communications initiatives." Fox had also been a board chairman for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He died in 2021.

Wonderama

Patty Duke – A child star (thanks to her portrayal of Helen Keller) when she appeared on Challenge, she eventually testified to Congressional investigators – and broke to tears when she admitted she'd been coached to speak falsely, an incident Sonny Fox described when interviewed for the PBS program reviewing the quiz scandals. Duke survived to become a television star (The Patty Duke Show) in the early-to-mid-'60s, before moving on to more film and television work (including a memorable role in Valley of the Dolls), becoming an activist in the Screen Actors Guild, writing two memoirs (Call Me Anna and A Brilliant Madness) describing her troubled child acting career and her lifelong battle with manic depression, and becoming an advocate for better protection and benefits for child actors. She died on March 29, 2016, from Sepsis, resulting from a ruptured Intestine.

Broadway

Charles Revson – Inspired by cosmetics competitor (whose sponsoring of This Is Your Life provided big sales to Bishop) to think about television sponsorship in the first place, Revson was never investigated in his own right for his role in the quiz show scandals despite testifying (as did his brother, Martin) before Congress when the scandals broke in earnest. The cosmetics empire he founded, however, continued its success – and continued to sponsor television programming – for many years after the scandals faded away. Known as a hard-driving, hard-driven perfectionist whose overbearing manner usually alienated even his closest business partners, Revson's success left him a billionaire when he died in 1975. His charitable foundation has since given over $145 million in grants to schools, hospitals, and service organizations in various Jewish communities.

Hazel Bishop

Dr. – Only the second contestant to win the show's big prize (after expertly thwarting numerous attempts to bump her from the show because Martin Revson was said to have disliked her and doubted her credibility as a boxing expert), Brothers has enjoyed the most enduring fame and media success among anyone who rose to prominence by way of Question. Her championship as a boxing expert led to an invitation to become a commentator for CBS' telecast of a championship boxing match between Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio. In August 1958, shortly after she earned her license to practice psychology in New York, Brothers was given her own television program, first locally in New York and then in national syndication. Making numerous television and radio appearances as a psychologist, not to mention numerous television comedy roles, Brothers has also written a long-running syndicated advice column in newspapers and magazines, which was used as a source for some questions on the 1998–2004 revival of Hollywood Squares. She is still considered, arguably, the first media psychologist. She died from respiratory failure on May 13, 2013, at age 85.

Joyce Brothers

Ralph Story – He became the much-loved host of Ralph Story's Los Angeles (1964–1970), still considered the highest-rated, best-loved local show in Los Angeles television history. Story has also hosted A.M. Los Angeles and was the narrator for the series Alias Smith and Jones in 1972–1973. He died on September 26, 2006, at the age of 86.

ABC

The $64,000 Question – CBS television; June 7, 1955 – June 24, 1958 (Tuesday 10:00 p.m.); September 14 – November 9, 1958 (Sunday 10:00 p.m.). Simulcast on CBS Radio from October 4 to November 29, 1955.

The $64,000 Challenge – CBS television; April 8, 1956 – September 14, 1958; Sunday 10:00 p.m.

 – syndicated weekly television, September 18, 1976 – September 1978.

The $128,000 Question

The first round was a duel between two players; it consisted of up to 20 questions and lasted until one player had gotten two questions wrong. Players wore headphones playing loud music in order not to hear during each other's turns.

The second round was an "exam," in which the player who had won the duel now had to answer three questions from each of three experts in a category. The player could make up to two mistakes. If successful, the player then received a prize.

In the third, fourth, and final rounds, the player drew envelopes with questions from the big turntable, with the prize doubling each round. The grand prize changed over the years: primarily it was 25,000 (about equal to the average annual wage); later it was 40,000 zlotys (ca. $12,000).

zlotys

: "The $99,000 Answer" (first aired January 28, 1956); Ralph becomes a contestant on a quiz show, but nervously answers his first question incorrectly.

The Honeymooners

: "It's for the Birds". Bilko discovers one of his platoon is an expert on birds. He signs Pvt. Honnegan (played by Fred Gwynne) up for The $64,000 Question TV show. First broadcast on September 25, 1956.

The Phil Silvers Show

Fox-Terror (Looney Tunes short, 1957)

[23]

: Hal March Show (#8.3) (1957). Host Hal March appears in Jack Benny's version of the game show.

The Jack Benny Program

at IMDb

The $64,000 Question

Interview with former Quiz Show Host