RIP Tom Kennedy

1927-2020

Tom Kennedy was born James Edward Narz in Louisville, Kentucky.

He was the younger brother of host Jack Narz (1922-2008). The brothers wanted to avoid the perceived conflict of having two announcers with the same last name promoting competing products. Kennedy was a television host best known for his work in game shows. 

From 1957 to 1958, Kennedy was the Announcer for the Betty White TV series “Date with the Angels” which was loosely based on the Elmer Rice play Dream Girl, a play that Lucille Ball appeared in 1947.  

Kennedy’s first successful game show was owned by Desilu: “You Don’t Say!” (1963-75). Although Ball never appeared on the show, Lucy’s co-stars Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon did. She game show earned him an Emmy nomination in 1967 (the winner was Mike Douglas), the same year Lucille Ball won for “The Lucy Show.”  

In 1970, Kennedy broke out of his game show mold to host a 90-minute syndicated talk show “The Real Tom Kennedy Show.”  It lasted just one season. The chat-fest shared guests with “Here’s Lucy” such as Ruta Lee, Foster Brooks, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Bob Crane. 

In 1980 he assumed hosting of “Password Plus,” which following the illness (and later death) of original host Allen Ludden. 

Lucille Ball started appearing on “Password” in 1963. It was her favorite game show. Her first appearance with Kennedy as host was the during the first week in March 1981. Ball played with Betty White (Ludden’s widow), her “Lucy Show” TV boyfriend Dick Martin, and her real-life and “Here’s Lucy” TV son Desi Arnaz Jr. 

Ball returned for All-Celebrity Week in December 1981, although no information is available about these programs. Although Ball returned to “Password” in 1986 when when it was re-invented as “Super Password,” Tom Kennedy did not. Hosting tasks were assumed by Bert Convy when Kennedy moved on to host “Body Language.” In a surprise twist, he returned as a celebrity contestant in January 1987.  

Kennedy also hosted “Body Language,” a game show produced by Mark Goodson Productions which aired on CBS from June 4, 1984 until January 3, 1986. Pantomime and charades were a favorite pastime of Lucille Ball. 

Ten years earlier, Lucille Ball had promoted a Milton Bradley board game of the same name, so when a television version finally premiered, Ball did two 1984 week-long guest stints; one in September and another in December. 

“I don’t like how some game shows today humiliate people and reward contestants for dishonesty. An example of this is ‘The Weakest Link’ (2000 & 2020). The host puts down contestants for incorrect responses while the object of the game is to vote off other contestants, mainly those that help the team succeed. I think it’s a reflection of how selfish and cynical society today is at large, and I’m not a fan of it at all.” ~ Tom Kennedy

Kennedy retired in 1989. In 2005, Kennedy and his brother, Jack Narz, both received the Game Show Congress’ Bill Cullen award for lifetime achievement.

Kennedy was married to Betty Jane Gevedon. He died at age 93, survived by his three children. His nephew reports that he passed away peacefully.