Hugh Downs was an American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, music composer, who also had a regular television presence from the 1940s through the 1990s. Hugh Downs also had several successful roles on morning television, prime time television, and late-night television.
Downs served as announcer/sidekick for Tonight Starring Jack Paar from 1957 to 1962, co-host of the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978 to 1999.
Downs started in live television in 1945 in Chicago, where he became a regular on several nationally broadcast programs over the next decade. He moved to New York City in 1954, when he got invited to do a program there. Among other shows during his career, he also hosted the PBS talk show Over Easy and was the sometime co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only
Hugh Downs passed away at his home in Scottsdale Arizona the TV personalities career spanned more than a half-century he hosted the Today Show from 1962 to 1971. He then insisted that Barbara Walters get promoted from writer to on-air personality the two would later co-host the newsmagazine 20/20 in 1978.
Downs retired from TV in 1999. He once held the world record for most time on-air more than 10,000 hours.
Downs has survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Hugh Downs was 99
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