Warren Hull

John Warren Hull was born on January 17, 1903, in Gasport, New York, the son of John and Laura (née Shafer) Hull, both of whom were Quakers. One of three children, Hull graduated from Lockport High School in 1922 and subsequently enrolled at New York University with plans to enter business. He later redirected his ambitions toward music and transferred to the Eastman School of Music, where he studied voice. Following the completion of his studies, he relocated to New York City and began performing as a chorus boy in Shubert operas and operettas.

Hull's stage work led to two Broadway musical credits between 1927 and 1928. He played the role of Jack Negly in My Maryland in 1927 and appeared the following year as Jack Wayne in Rain or Shine. Alongside his theatrical pursuits, Hull had begun working as a radio announcer as early as 1923. He served as master of ceremonies for the first broadcast of Your Hit Parade and also worked as an announcer on The Beatrice Lillie Show.

Hull's screen career began in 1934 with short subjects produced by Educational Pictures in New York, where he co-starred with singer Sylvia Froos in the Young Romance series of musical comedies. Warner Bros. signed him to a contract in 1935, and he spent several years at the studio in leading roles across both dramas and musicals. After his Warners contract ended, Hull appeared opposite Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead (1936) and Night Key (1937), and teamed with former Warners co-star Patricia Ellis for the Republic Pictures musical Rhythm in the Clouds (1937). He also took on romantic leads in a series of features for Monogram Pictures. Some of his early screen appearances carry the billing "J. Warren Hull."

In 1938, Columbia Pictures cast Hull in The Spider's Web, the studio's second serial production, based on a popular magazine character. Hull portrayed three distinct figures in the serial: criminologist Richard Wentworth, his costumed alter ego the Spider, and the disguised mobster Blinky McQuade. The Spider's Web became the most popular and profitable serial of its year, surpassing Buck Rogers and Dick Tracy Returns according to tallies published in the Motion Picture Herald and The Film Daily. Columbia subsequently cast Hull as Mandrake the Magician in a 1939 serial. Universal Pictures then starred him in The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941), and Columbia returned him to the Spider role in The Spider Returns (1941).

Hull resumed radio announcing in the mid-1940s, appearing regularly on programs including Your Hit Parade and Vox Pop. During World War II he traveled across the United States and Canada to present Vox Pop before servicemen at military camps and bases, and after the war he hosted broadcasts of the program from France, Britain, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. In 1947 he hosted The Warren Hull Show on CBS radio, and during the same period served as host of Cavalcade of Bands for DuMont radio. On July 4, 1948, he debuted as emcee of Spin to Win, the second game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, in which he quizzed call-in contestants about popular records. That same year he replaced Todd Russell as host of the radio game show Strike It Rich, a role he continued when the program moved to television in 1951. Hull remained the host of Strike It Rich until the series concluded in 1958, and the television version became the work for which he is most widely remembered. He occasionally substituted for regular co-host Robert Paige on The Big Payoff during the 1953–54 season, which featured former Miss America Bess Myerson as co-host. Hull went on to host additional television programs including Top Dollar, Beat the Odds, and Public Prosecutor. By the early 1960s he had largely retired and was living in Virginia Beach, Virginia, though he returned in 1962 to host the game show Who in the World.

Hull was married four times and had four children, with his first three marriages ending in divorce. His fourth marriage, to Susan Fossum Stevens, lasted until his death. He died of congestive heart failure on September 14, 1974, at Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut, at the age of 71. Funeral services were held on September 18 at the Church of the Epiphany in Southbury, Connecticut, and he was buried at the New North Cemetery in Woodbury, Connecticut. Hull holds two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for radio at 6270 Hollywood Boulevard and one for television at 6135 Hollywood Boulevard.