Bert Convy

Bernard Whalen Convy was born on July 23, 1933, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Bernard Fleming Convy and Monica Whalen Convy. His family relocated to Los Angeles when he was seven years old, and he grew up to attend North Hollywood High School, where he distinguished himself as an all-around athlete. At seventeen, the Philadelphia Phillies offered him a professional baseball contract, and he spent two seasons, 1951 and 1952, in their minor league system with the Klamath Falls Gems, Miami Eagles, and Salina Blue Jays. He subsequently enrolled at UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, earning a bachelor's degree. During the 1950s he was also a member of the vocal group The Cheers, which reached the top ten in 1955 with the single "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots."

Convy transitioned into entertainment full-time in 1956, appearing as a CBS usher on Art Linkletter's House Party that year and performing as a featured singer in the Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s and 1960s. His Broadway career spanned from 1959 to 1982 and encompassed ten productions. Among his earliest New York credits was the revue Billy Barnes Revue, followed by Vintage '60 and Nowhere to Go But Up. In 1964 he joined the original Broadway cast of Fiddler on the Roof alongside Zero Mostel, playing Perchik the Student and performing the number "Now I Have Everything." Two years later he originated the role of Cliff Bradshaw in Cabaret, a character described as a fictionalized version of Christopher Isherwood. In 1969 he played reporter Hildy Johnson in a Broadway revival of The Front Page, which starred Robert Ryan. He also appeared in The Impossible Years in 1965, and at a later point in his stage career he stepped into the lead role of Guido Contini in the Broadway musical Nine, filling in for Raul Julia during Julia's vacation.

On screen, Convy built a substantial film and television résumé alongside his stage work. His film appearances included A Bucket of Blood (1959), in which he played Lou Raby, and the 1961 Warner Bros. drama Susan Slade, where he appeared as a rival to Troy Donahue for the affections of Connie Stevens. Later film credits included Philippe de Broca's Les Caprices de Marie (1970), Semi-Tough (1977), in which he played a character named Friedrich Bismark conceived as a caricature of Werner Erhard, SST: Death Flight (1977), Jennifer (1978), Hanging by a Thread (1979), Racquet (1979), The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979), Hero at Large (1980), and The Cannonball Run (1981). He directed the comedy Weekend Warriors in 1986, and in 1980 he produced and directed the Goodspeed Musicals premiere of Zapata, featuring music and lyrics by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin Jr. and a libretto by Allan Katz.

His television work was equally extensive. He guest-starred in an April 1960 episode of Perry Mason titled "The Case of the Nimble Nephew" and appeared in the 1960–1961 season on both Harrigan and Son and 77 Sunset Strip. In 1961 he appeared in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled "Museum Piece." He portrayed Roxy in the pilot of The New Phil Silvers Show in 1963, though the role was recast for the remainder of the series. In 1972 he appeared on The Partridge Family as politician Richard Lawrence. He was a guest star in two episodes of Hawaii Five-O in 1973, and in 1974 he played Lieutenant Steve Ostrowski on the short-lived series The Snoop Sisters. He appeared in the 1979 television movie Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and in the 1982 television movie Help Wanted: Male. In 1983 he was cast as Neil Townsend on the sitcom It's Not Easy opposite Ken Howard, taking over a role originally given to Larry Breeding, who died in a car accident in September 1982. He also appeared on the soap opera Love of Life as Glenn Hamilton and had recurring guest appearances on series including Bewitched, Mission: Impossible, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, and Murder, She Wrote.

From the 1960s onward, Convy became a prominent presence in the game show world, serving as a semi-regular panelist on What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Match Game, and Password. He hosted Tattletales from 1974 to 1978 and again from 1982 to 1984, winning a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host in 1977 for that program. He went on to host Super Password, the fourth edition of the Password franchise, from 1984 to 1989. In the 1980s he and Burt Reynolds formed Burt and Bert Productions, whose first project was the game show Win, Lose or Draw, which debuted in 1987 on NBC and in syndication. Convy hosted the syndicated edition for its first two seasons before departing to host another company production, 3rd Degree. In 1989 he recorded pilot episodes for a proposed revival of Match Game for Mark Goodson Productions, but a diagnosis of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, forced him to withdraw before the series reached air in 1990.

Convy married Anne Anderson in 1959, and together they had three children: Jennifer, Joshua, and Jonah. The couple divorced in 1991. In February 1991 he married Catherine Hills. In April 1990 he had collapsed while visiting his mother at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and was subsequently diagnosed with glioblastoma, which ended his career. Bert Convy died on July 15, 1991, at his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, eight days before his fifty-eighth birthday. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.