Hugh Malcolm Downs (1921–2020) was a long-time American broadcaster and television host. Downs spent more than 10,000 hours on the air, and he held the record for the person with the most hours on network television until Regis Philbin outdid him in 2004.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Downs attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, 1938–41. Downs started his radio career in 1939. He began in live television in 1945 in Chicago, where he became a regular on various nationwide programs over the next decade. He relocated to New York City in 1954 and became a news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer.
Downs was the host of the NBC News Today program 1962–71, host of the Concentration game show 1958–69, and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 1978–99. Downs hosted the PBS talk show Over Easy and was the sporadic co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.
Downs’s works include Potential: The Way to Emotional Maturity (1973,) On Camera by Hugh Downs (1986,) Fifty to Forever (1994,) Letter to a Great Grandson (2004,) and Yours Truly, Hugh Downs (2012.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Hugh Downs
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
—Hugh Downs
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