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Robert Q. Lewis is a Actor American born on 25 april 1920 at New York City (USA)

Robert Q. Lewis

Robert Q. Lewis
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Birth name Robert Goldberg
Nationality USA
Birth 25 april 1920 at New York City (USA)
Death 11 december 1991 (at 71 years) at New York City (USA)

Robert Q. Lewis (April 25, 1920 – December 11, 1991) was an American radio and television personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle, by saying, "and this is Robert Q. Lewis." He subsequently decided to retain the initial, telling interviewers that it stood for "Quizzical."

Lewis is perhaps best known for his game show participation, having been the first host of The Name's the Same, and regularly appearing on other Goodson-Todman panel shows. He also hosted and appeared on a multitude of television shows of the 1940s through the 1970s. His most distinguishing feature was his horn-rimmed glasses, to the point that the title card for his second Robert Q. Lewis Show featured a pair of such glasses as a logo, and they were mentioned in the title of his lecture. As a frequent guest panelist on What's My Line?, Lewis's blindfold featured a sketched pair of glasses.

Biography

Lewis was born Robert Goldberg in Manhattan to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia. At age ten he set up a microphone and record player at home and became the family's disc jockey.




Radio
Lewis made his radio debut in 1931, at age 11, on a local radio show, "Dr. Posner's Kiddie Hour". He enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1938, where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity. He left to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1942 and became a radio operator in the Signal Corps.



After the war, he became an announcer and disc jockey. Among those who served as writers on Lewis's radio programs were playwright Neil Simon, author and dramatist Paddy Chayevsky, and radio comedy writer Goodman Ace, who headed a CBS team of comedy writers, including Simon, that acted largely as "script doctors" for existing shows in need of fixing. Ace was frustrated over CBS's revamp of the show he assembled for Lewis, The Little Show: "I give them a good, tight, fifteen-minute comedy show," Ace told Time, "and what do they do? Expand it to half an hour and throw in an orchestra and an audience. Who the hell said a comedy show had to be half an hour, Marconi? Ida Cantor?"

Future talk-show host and producer Merv Griffin often sang on Lewis's show. Lewis began appearing on television, but he continued on radio, first for the CBS and later as a disc jockey in Los Angeles. One of his radio series, Robert Q.'s Waxworks, was devoted to old records, setting the pattern that later radio personalities like Dr. Demento would follow.

His interview-based program was heard locally on KFI, Los Angeles, in 1972.


Television
Lewis was an early arrival on network television, presiding over more than one series at a time. The Robert Q. Lewis Show had a six-month run on CBS's Sunday night television lineup from July 16, 1950 to January 7, 1951. At the same time he also hosted CBS's TV talent-search variety program The Show Goes On from January 19, 1950 to February 16, 1952. He also had two daytime variety shows on CBS. The first, Robert Q's Matinee, was a 45-minute daily show, which lasted 14 weeks, from October 16, 1950 to January 19, 1951. The second, more successful The Robert Q. Lewis Show ran on CBS-TV from January 11, 1954 to May 25, 1956.

Lewis was often recruited to fill in for performers who were ill or otherwise unable to perform. He frequently sat in for Arthur Godfrey, who was considered his tutor. Lewis often credited Godfrey with giving him his first big breaks in show business. Jackie Gleason invited "Robert Q. Lewis and His Gang" to take over his American Scene Magazine time slot while he was away. These emergency replacements became part of Lewis's comic monologue; he'd tell of how he phoned his mother to watch him on CBS, only to hear her say, "Oh? Who's sick?"

Robert Q. became a fixture on television quiz shows in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952, he settled into his most enduring game show role as host of ABC's The Name's the Same. In 1954, Lewis gave up the show to devote more time to his variety program; several times during his tenure, contestants appeared on the show bearing the name Robert Q. Lewis. In 1958, he hosted the short-lived original version of Make Me Laugh. In 1962, he substituted for and ultimately replaced Merv Griffin as host of Play Your Hunch. In 1964, he hosted the short-lived game show Get the Message on ABC.

Lewis was also a frequent participant on the panel show What's My Line?, making 40 appearances on the show. He first appeared as a panelist in 1951, about a year into the show's run. His most regular run on the show was alternating weeks with comedian Fred Allen following the departure of regular panelist Steve Allen, beginning in 1954 through early 1955; Fred Allen ultimately took the spot on the panel on a regular basis for approximately a year until his death. Lewis continued to make regular guest appearances on the panel right up to the show's final year in 1967. He also made one appearance as the show's "Mystery Guest" in 1955. He was also a guest panelist/player on a number of Goodson-Todman shows, including To Tell The Truth, Get The Message, Hollywood Squares, and both the original and 1970s versions of Match Game.


Records

Robert Q. Lewis was always an enthusiast of vintage music. He frequently revived old Tin Pan Alley tunes on his radio and TV shows, and in his very popular nightclub act. From the 1940s he sang for Columbia Records, MGM Records, and Coral Records. He scored his biggest hit in 1951 with the dialect novelty song, "Where's-a Your House?", an answer record to the Rosemary Clooney hit "Come On-a My House". In 1967, Lewis recorded I'm Just Wild About Vaudeville for Atco—this collection of circa-1930 songs has Lewis cleverly imitating different singing styles of the day.


Movies, TV, and theater

Lewis's fondness for show-business nostalgia was well known within the industry, and in 1949 he was hired to narrate the "lighter side" segment of the feature-length March of Time documentary film The Golden Twenties. He was too busy to pursue a movie career at the time because of his hectic radio, television, and nightclub schedule.

Later in his career, Lewis acted in a few movies, notably An Affair to Remember (1957), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), Ski Party (1965), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), and the TV movie The Law (1974), in which he played a dinner speaker at a lawyers' convention. He also performed on a number of television series, including Room for One More; The Hathaways; Branded; The Patty Duke Show; Ichabod and Me; Slattery's People; Grindl; Bewitched; Love, American Style; and Emergency!.

During the 1960s, Lewis became a familiar face on the live-theater circuit, starring in road-company versions of Broadway hits, including Bells Are Ringing and The Odd Couple. He continued to make sporadic acting appearances until a few years before his death.


Personal life
Lewis was a long-time smoker, and was frequently seen smoking cigarettes on the air in the early days of television. At that time smoking was not uncommon on panel shows. He died in 1991 at age 71 of emphysema, leaving no immediate survivors.

According to character actor/comedian Will Jordan, Lewis was gay.

A collection of Robert Q. Lewis's personal papers, notes, and scripts, covering roughly the years 1940 until 1960, now resides at Thousand Oaks Library in Thousand Oaks, California. He is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Usually with

David Swift
David Swift
(2 films)
Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey
(1 films)
Woody Allen
Woody Allen
(1 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Robert Q. Lewis (8 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

My Chauffeur, 1h37
Directed by David Beaird
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Deborah Foreman, E. G. Marshall, Howard Hesseman, Julius Harris, Penn Jillette, Sam J. Jones
Rating55% 2.7545552.7545552.7545552.7545552.754555
Casey Meadows is a free-spirited young woman working as a dishwasher in an upscale restaurant. One day she receives a hand-delivered job offer as a driver for Brentwood Limousine Service. The company manager, McBride is appalled at Casey's young, brash presence... and the fact that she's a woman in an all-male establishment. McBride soon learns that Mr. Witherspoon, the company owner, personally handpicked her and offered the letter of employment. McBride reluctantly agrees to hire her, but warns her that she will be fired if she steps out of line.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask, 1h27
Directed by Woody Allen
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Anthology film
Themes Films about animals, Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, John Carradine, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, Lou Jacobi
Roles Himself
Rating66% 3.3481853.3481853.3481853.3481853.348185
Des aphrodisiaques permettent à un fou du roi (Woody Allen) de trouver la clé qui lui ouvrira les portes du cœur de la reine (Lynn Redgrave), avant de s'apercevoir que la clé de sa ceinture de chasteté lui serait tout de même plus utile.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, 2h1
Directed by David Swift
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Musical, Romance
Themes Théâtre, Musical films, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals
Actors Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallée, Anthony 'Scooter' Teague, Maureen Arthur, Ruth Kobart
Roles Tackaberry
Rating71% 3.596933.596933.596933.596933.59693
J. Pierpont Finch buys a book, How to Succeed in Business, describing in step-by-step fashion how to rise in the business world. The ambitious young window cleaner follows its advice carefully. He joins the "World-Wide Wicket Company" and begins work in the mailroom. Soon, thanks to the ethically-questionable advice in the book, he rises to Vice-President in Charge of Advertising, making sure that each person above him gets either fired or moved or transferred within the company.
Ride Beyond Vengeance
Directed by Bernard McEveety
Genres Action, Western
Actors Chuck Connors, Michael Rennie, Kathryn Hays, Joan Blondell, Gloria Grahame, Bill Bixby
Roles The Hotel Clerk
Rating61% 3.09753.09753.09753.09753.0975
A census taker (James MacArthur) arrives in the Texas town of Cold Iron, with a population of 789. He goes into the local bar for a cold beer, and tells the bartender the town has an unusual number of citizens named "Jonas" and "Reprisal." He observes a painting above the bar of a violent street fight. He is then told of the events behind the fight involving a buffalo hunter and gunman named Jonas Trapp and the night the local Mexicans still call "The Night of Reprisals".
Ski Party
Ski Party (1965)
, 1h30
Directed by Alan Rafkin
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical
Themes Sports films, Musical films
Actors Frankie Avalon, Yvonne Craig, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Aron Kincaid, Dick Miller
Roles Mr. Pevney
Rating52% 2.609512.609512.609512.609512.60951
Todd Armstrong (Avalon) and Craig Gamble (Hickman) are California college undergraduates who unsuccessfully date co-eds Linda Hughes (Deborah Walley) and Barbara Norris (Yvonne Craig). Arrogant, handsome, athletic classmate Freddie (Aron Kincaid) has no such problems and chooses not to fight off all the women chasing after him. As president of the Ski Club, Freddie organizes a midterm vacation trip to ski country (in gorgeous Sawtooth National Forest) in Idaho. Although they know nothing about skiing, Todd and Craig follow Linda and Barbara on this bus trip, to try to learn "the secret of Freddie's technique".
Good Neighbor Sam, 2h10
Directed by David Swift
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Jack Lemmon, Romy Schneider, Dorothy Provine, Mike Connors, Edward G. Robinson, Edward Andrews
Roles Earl, neighbor
Rating67% 3.396323.396323.396323.396323.39632
Lemmon plays Sam Bissel, a hard-working advertising executive, with two young daughters and a loving wife, Min (Dorothy Provine).
An Affair to Remember, 1h59
Directed by Leo McCarey
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Films about disabilities, Children's films
Actors Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Cathleen Nesbitt, Fortunio Bonanova, Robert Q. Lewis
Roles Himself (TV Presenter/Interviewer)
Rating73% 3.699383.699383.699383.699383.69938
Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), a well-known playboy and dilettante in the arts, meets Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) aboard the Transatlantic ocean liner SS Constitution en route from Europe to New York. Each is involved with someone else. After a series of chance meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother when the ship anchors near her home at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings blossom into love. During their visit, it is revealed that Nickie has had a talent for painting, but has dropped said trait due to his critical attitude towards his own art. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time, if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.