Profile of Art Fleming on Famous Like Me

Art Fleming Art Fleming was born Arthur Fleming Fazzin in New York City in 1925. His parents, William and Marie Fazzin, had emigrated to the United States from Austria. They were a popular dance team in Europe who had brought their show to the U.S., where it saw only limited success.

Fleming, who was 6'4" and 220 pounds, was a varsity letterman at James Monroe High School in New York. He later attended Colgate and Cornell Universities, and starred on the football and water polo teams at both colleges.

Fleming was a World War II veteran who served in the Navy for three and a half years as a patrol bomber pilot in the Atlantic. After leaving the Navy, Fleming became a radio announcer at a station in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It was here that he first shortened his name to "Art Fleming." His radio career would later take him to Akron, Ohio, and back home to New York. He was the first announcer to deliver the popular slogan "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should."

Fleming's acting career began at the age of four, when he starred in a Broadway play. His first television role was as a stuntman double for Ralph Bellamy in the detective series Man Against Crime. He would later star in The Flying Tigers, The Californians, and International Detective.

Fleming also appeared in many TV commercials. He was first spotted by Merv Griffin on a commercial for Trans World Airlines. Griffin thought Fleming was "authoritative, yet warm and interesting." He thought Art would make a good host for his new quiz show. Fleming was skeptical, because he was an actor and had no prior hosting experience. Fleming's agent encouraged him to "act like a game show host" at his audition; his acting was so good he won the job. From 1964 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979, Fleming hosted the world's greatest quiz show, Jeopardy, earning two Emmy nominations in the process.

Because he hosted a quiz show, Fleming earned a reputation as being a storehouse for trivia. While appearing as a guest star on Hollywood Squares (another popular NBC game show in the '60s and '70s), Fleming was once selected as the "secret square." His question was, "In 1938, who won the Wimbledon women's tennis championship?" Fleming picked Helen Wills Moody, one of the three choices read to him. The female contestant who had selected Fleming turned to Squares MC Peter Marshall and said, "Art Fleming would never lie, I agree!" He was right, and the contestant won $11,000. Fleming later commented that he did not know a thing about tennis and had guessed the answer. He hoped the contestant would disagree, thinking he was wrong.

Throughout his career, Fleming starred in 5,000 episodes of television programs and 48 motion pictures. After Jeopardy was cancelled in 1975, Fleming returned to acting. He played the role of W. Averell Harriman in the movie MacArthur, and also appeared on episodes of Starsky and Hutch, Kingston, and the TV miniseries The Moneychangers. He also hosted a radio version of College Bowl for CBS, and he reprised his role as host of Jeopardy in the movie Airplane II and in Weird Al Yankovic's music video I Lost on Jeopardy. He was often called upon to host mock versions of Jeopardy at trade shows and conventions.

From 1980 to 1992, Fleming hosted a daily radio talk show on KMOX in St. Louis. He also hosted the syndicated radio program When Radio Was.

In 1992, Fleming retired and moved with his wife to Crystal River, Florida. He remained active in charity work: he hosted fundraising videos for the Citrus County (Florida) United Way and was also involved with the Citrus Abuse Shelter Association, where his wife served as director.

Art Fleming died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Crystal River on April 25, 1995, at the age of 70.

External link

• Art Fleming at the Internet Movie Database

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