William H. Carruthers (September 27, 1930 – March 2, 2003) was an American television executive who gained his first fame as the director of ''

The Soupy Sales Show Milton Supman (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009), known professionally as Soupy Sales, was an American comedian, actor, radio-television personality, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television serie ...

'' at Detroit television station WXYZ-TV. He also directed the

Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...

-helmed game show, '' Take a Good Look'', for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from 1959 to 1961. Carruthers was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. He served in the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

for four years, and after serving, he took up a job at Detroit ABC O & O (Owned and Operated) WXYZ-TV. One day, he showed up to the station to work when he was told at the last minute, the regular director was unable to direct The Soupy Sales Show, he stepped in to direct the show. He was named the permanent director, and moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1959 upon the show becoming nationally distributed. He went on to be the director on '' The Newlywed Game'' and '' The Dating Game'' before starting his own production company in 1968. His company, The William Carruthers Company, produced the ABC country music series '' The Johnny Cash Show'' in 1969 with his partner Joel Stein for

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

. He also produced and directed game shows including '' Give-n-Take'', '' The Neighbors'', '' Second Chance'' (all with Warner Bros. Television), ''Lee Trevino's Golf for Swingers'' (with advertising agency McCann Erickson) and the 1975 version of '' You Don't Say!'' (with Ralph Andrews Productions and Warner Bros. Television), before hitting it big with the CBS game show, ''

Press Your Luck ''Press Your Luck'' is an American television game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on CBS daytime on September 19, 1983, and ended on September 26, 1986. The format is a retooling of an earlier Carruthers productio ...

'' (which was a retooling of the earlier ''Second Chance''), which ran from 1983–86. He was the voice for the multiple Whammy animations on the show. As a television consultant, Carruthers guided the Nixon, Ford,

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

administrations on effective use of the media. In the 1990s, he produced specials for The Family Channel, called ''Marry Me'', as well as a short-lived game show for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, ''Designated Hitter''. He suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on set in 1996. This led to his retirement, which eventually led to his death from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in 2003. Two weeks after his death,

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revive ...

aired a documentary called ''Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal'' about a contestant on the Carruthers co-created ''

'' named

Michael Larson Paul Michael Larson (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999) was an American television game show contestant from Ohio who appeared on the CBS program ''Press Your Luck'' in 1984. Larson is notable for winning US$110,237 () in cash and prizes, at the ...

. The documentary detailed how Larson created a method that allowed him to win a record-breaking sum of over $100,000 on the game show. Carruthers was interviewed for the program, which marked his last appearance before his death. The original airing of the documentary was dedicated in his memory. Today, the rights to the Press Your Luck format are owned by the British multi-national media company

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

; Carruthers sold the format to Pearson Television, Fremantle's predecessor company after his retirement.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, Bill 1930 births 2003 deaths Deaths from cerebrovascular disease American television producers American television directors Businesspeople from Detroit 20th-century American businesspeople