William Joseph Wenzel Jr. (March 22, 1924 – April 14, 1999), known as Bill Wendell, was an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

staff

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

for almost his entire professional career.

Life and career

Born in New York City, Wendell served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and graduated from Fordham University with a degree in speech. He began his radio career in summer of 1947''Yonkers Herald Statesman'', July 18, 1959, pg. 6 at WHAM in Rochester, New York. He moved to WWJ in Detroit, where he worked in both radio and TV. Wendell returned to Manhattan in 1952 when he landed a job on the DuMont television network emceeing several shows before jumping to NBC in 1955. He was a regular on the 1955-56 version of ''

The Ernie Kovacs Show ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' was an American comedy show hosted by comedian Ernie Kovacs, first shown in Philadelphia during the early 1950s, then nationally. The show appeared in many versions and formats, including daytime, prime-time, late-night ...

'', serving as the show's announcer, as well as a participant in sketches such as "Mr. Question Man" (a parody of ''

The Answer Man ''The Answer Man'' is a United States 15-minute radio program that aired from 1937 to 1956 on the Mutual Broadcasting System and also in syndication. It was broadcast late Sunday evening on some stations. During the 1940s, the program was sponso ...

''). He also worked with

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...

, Jack Paar,

Dave Garroway David Cunningham Garroway (July 13, 1913 – July 21, 1982) was an American television personality. He was the founding host and anchor of NBC's ''Today'' from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing and relaxing style belied a lifelong battle with depressi ...

, and other NBC personalities. After Jack Barry was implicated in the

quiz show scandals The 1950s quiz show scandals were a series of scandals involving the producers and contestants of several popular American television quiz shows. These shows' producers secretly gave assistance to certain contestants in order to prearrange the s ...

, Wendell succeeded him as emcee of ''

Tic Tac Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...

'' on October 13, 1958, until the show was finally canceled in October 1959. By December, Wendell had resumed his staff announcing position at NBC, forming part of a fraternity of network staff announcers who held lifetime contracts; his colleagues were

Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...

Wayne Howell Wayne Howell Chappelle (February 16, 1921 – July 8, 1993) was a voice-over announcer for the NBC television and radio networks from 1947 through 1986. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and became one member of a core group of New York-base ...

, Gene Hamilton, Ben Grauer,

Fred Facey Ferdinand A. Facey (October 19, 1930 – April 13, 2003), known as Fred Facey, was an American radio and television announcer. Career Facey joined the announcing staff of NBC in New York City in 1967, and remained with the network for the res ...

Bill McCord William J. McCord (December 18, 1916 – January 17, 2004) was an American radio and television announcer. Born in Colville, Washington, McCord moved to Spokane in the 1930s, where he began his broadcasting career. During World War II, he ...

, Roger Tuttle, and

Howard Reig Howard Reig (May 31, 1921 – November 10, 2008) During the 1970s, Wendell succeeded

Johnny Olson John Leonard Olson (May 22, 1910 – October 12, 1985) was an American radio personality and television announcer. Olson is perhaps best known for his work as an announcer for game shows, particularly the work he did for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman P ...

as the announcer of the syndicated '' To Tell the Truth'' from 1972 to 1977, after Olson left New York City to assume the job on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's game '' The New Price Is Right'', based in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. Wendell was also the announcer for several years on ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

'' and the ''

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...

''. In addition, during the years when the television networks did not broadcast 24 hours a day, Wendell anchored a five-minute summary of the day's news—the last program NBC-TV would offer to its local affiliates at the end of the broadcast day. Wendell was heard but not seen, as the camera displayed still images or illustrations related to the brief news items. He was David Letterman's announcer, beginning partway through the short-lived morning program ''

The David Letterman Show ''The David Letterman Show'' is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward. Back ...

'' in 1980. He continued with Letterman as the regular announcer for NBC's '' Late Night with David Letterman'' from 1982 to 1993, the entirety of the show's NBC run. In addition to his duties as announcer, Wendell occasionally participated in sketches, usually playing himself. He moved with Letterman to

in 1993, staying as announcer on the '' Late Show with David Letterman''. Wendell retired in mid-1995, with his last episode airing on August 18. Following a two-week hiatus, Alan Kalter succeeded him as announcer on September 4. Kalter had previously replaced Wendell as announcer for the final season of ''To Tell the Truth'' in 1977–78. Before he announced for David Letterman's ''Late Night'', Wendell was announcer on

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and ' ...

's '' Tomorrow Show'' when Snyder moved production from Burbank, California to New York. Snyder's time slot was later given to Letterman, who kept Wendell as announcer. On the June 14, 2018 episode of ''The Carson Podcast'' with guest Robert Morton (Producer of ''The Late Show''), Morton claimed that "I fired Wendell because he was stealing water ottled water intended for the staff One day I see Wendell walking out with a case of water. When we caught him doing it a second time, we all said, 'We can't tolerate this.' He was a wonderful announcer and a good guy, but he was petty." Wendell also appeared as a TV announcer in the movie '' Mr. Saturday Night'', which starred

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

. Wendell's last major job was as the original

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

announcer in

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

's "fashion show" commercial campaign.

Death

Wendell died of complications from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 1999 in Boca Raton,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

References

Obituaries

Obituary
in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, April 15, 1999.
Obituary
in

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, May 25, 1999.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wendell, Bill 1924 births 1999 deaths Deaths from cancer in Florida Fordham University alumni Game show announcers NBC network announcers Television personalities from New York City Radio and television announcers United States Army Air Forces soldiers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) People from New York City