Joseph Gilbert Fates (September 29, 1914,

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) was an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

. Fates was the executive producer of ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' Fates produced the game show during its entire quarter-century span of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and syndicated runs. Fates and panelist

Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American actress, radio and television talk show host, and game show panelist. She is known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game s ...

(who debuted on the second week) were with the show from 1950 until it ended in 1975. Fates also hosted '' CBS Television Quiz'', the first television game show ever to be broadcast regularly; and was credited as a creative consultant on ''

Play Your Cards Right ''Play Your Cards Right'' (or ''Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right'') is a British television game show based on, and played similarly to, the American show ''Card Sharks''. History ''Play Your Cards Right'' broadcast on ITV from 1 Februar ...

'', the British version of Goodson-Todman's ''

Card Sharks ''Card Sharks'' is an American television game show. It was created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson- Bill Todman Productions. The game features two contestants who attempt to predict the outcome of survey questions to gain control of a ro ...

''. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was a stage actor. He also wrote a book in 1978 called ''What's My Line? The History of America's Most Famous Panel Show''.

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* 1914 births 2000 deaths American male stage actors American male television actors American television directors American television producers American television writers American male television writers American information and reference writers American game show hosts Businesspeople from Newark, New Jersey 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American businesspeople Screenwriters from New Jersey 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American male writers {{US-theat-actor-stub