Years active 1946–1974 Name Durward Kirby | Role Television host | |
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Full Name Homer Durward Kirby Occupation Television host/Announcer Died March 15, 2000, Shell Point Village, Florida, United States TV shows The Garry Moore Show, Candid Camera, The Perry Como Show | ||
Homer Durward Kirby (August 24, 1911 – March 15, 2000, sometimes misspelled Durwood Kirby) was an American television host and announcer. He is best remembered for The Garry Moore Show in the 1950s and Candid Camera, which he co-hosted with Allen Funt from 1961 through 1966.
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Early life
Kirby was born in Covington, Kentucky. His family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was 15. Kirby graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, then entered Purdue University to study engineering. However, he dropped out to become a radio announcer.
Radio
By 1936, Kirby was an announcer for WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1937, an Associated Press news story reported that Kirby "made a name for himself" with his reporting on the Ohio River flood of 1937. He also worked at radio stations in Chicago and Indianapolis before the war.
He served in the United States Navy during World War II.
Following the war, Kirby hosted Club Matinee in Chicago with Garry Moore on the NBC Blue radio network before moving to television in 1949 as an announcer. He also worked on Meet Your Navy and Honeymoon in New York on network radio.
Television
Kirby was a regular on Moore's television shows from 1950 to 1968. (The Associated Press's obituary for Kirby gives his years of working with Moore's television show as 1950-1951, 1958-1964, and 1966-1967.) Kirby also appeared as a host, announcer, or guest on other television programs. He served as one of NBC Radio's Monitor "Communicators".
Stage
Kirby did some acting in summer stock theatre, including three years' appearances in productions at the Cherry County Playhouse in Michigan.
Other information
Kirby stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and had a mellow personality that served well as a foil for the stars with whom he worked. A versatile performer, he acted in sketches, sang, and danced. He moved with ease from slapstick to suave sales pitches for the sponsor's product. Critic John Crosby called him "one of the most versatile muggers and comedians on the air."
His most embarrassing moment came during a Polaroid commercial, during which he forgot to pull the tab after taking a picture of Garry Moore holding his Christmas list. After nearly a minute of a Polaroid representative yelling, "Pull the tab!" from the audience, Kirby gave a mighty yank with his long arms and pulled all seven remaining pictures out of the camera. This required a fair amount of strength, not only to burst the developer pods but to rip through the stops on the film roll.
Books
Kirby wrote three books: My Life, Those Wonderful Years; Bits and Pieces of This and That; and a children's book, Dooley Wilson.
Personal life
Kirby married Mary Paxton Young on June 15, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois. Paxton was a singer and actress on radio who died in 1994. They had two sons.
Death
Kirby died of congestive heart failure in Fort Myers, Florida, on March 15, 2000, at the age of 88. He was buried next to his wife, Mary Paxton Young Kirby, in Coburn Cemetery in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where he had a summer home. He was survived by his two sons and three grandsons.
Quotes
"Age is just a number, and mine is unlisted."