TheTattletales curse

Barbara McNair. Now there's a name from the past I hadn't thought of recently. She was cool and sexy. Good voice too.

Cancer is a common cause of death unfortunately.

Everyone who was on Match Game died of liquor.

Interesting topic. Didn't most of the Bewitch cast die of cancer? I also remember hearing that most of the cast from Michael J Fox's first TV show has Parkinson's

Poor Tina Yothers can't even say her own name.

Everyone from China Beach died of volleyball breasts.

Most of the cast on The Beverley Hillbillies died form smoking crawdads.

Bea Benaderet was the first to go, then her daughter Jethrine.

It was probably the toxins in the shag carpeted set that did in all the Tattletales players.

I loved that some of the Tattletales couples were bearding couples, like Fannie Flagg and Dick Sargent.

I remember the show being deliciously risque for the time.

r9 - And Mary Wickes (!) with some old queen.

Meanwhile, the cast from "Our American Cousin" are all dead to me, too!

What is this show Tattletales? Was is like the newlywed game for closeted celebrities who weren't even married? My question is sincere btw.

Dead cancer is the [italic]worst[/italic] kind of cancer.

R13, it was a 70s game show. They'd have celebrity couples on. One would be put in a soundproof room. The other would be asked a question. Then, the same question would be asked to the segregated partner. If the answers matched, they won. I'm sure there were some closeted gays on there, but it was such a taboo subject back then, that it was decades later before they were outed.

I was a kid at the time, watched it during summer vacation. I remember it being funny as hell and thinking Bert Convy was so handsome. He was also on a show called The Snoop Sisters. I really liked that one.

Bert Convy!!!! Dick Gautier!!!!

Dick Gautier was fucking hot to this at the time mid teenager.

me too r17!!!

The questions on Tattletales were far more risque than The Newlywed Games.

The couples were also very funny.

Not just cancer, both Bert Convey and Meredith McRae died of brain tumors IIR...could be a cluster.

I'm glad they're dead. No one likes a tattletale!

These were people who were already adults 40+ years ago. Naturally many of them have died, and with smoking so prevalent back then many of them will have died of cancer. Not a curse, really.

What is a weird coincidence was that Bert Convy started in Nine on Broadway. He and the other two leading men (Raul Julia and Sergio Frachi) all died young of cancer.

Betty White & Allen Ludden (Cancer)

The lovely Lynn Redgrave with her husband who went on to cheat on her and have a baby with their daughter in law. Then Lynn died of cancer.

I know Edie died of (presumably) cancer; did Steve?

Steve is alive and presumably well, R26. He'll turn 80 in on July 8th.

Did he live of cancer?

Not so sure about that R22. Erin Moran was really young, she's dead.

And don't forget everyone's favorite announcer, Johnny 'Come On Down' Olson, who died a year or so after this taping.

Allen Ludden was on that show several times.

I loved Tattletales. It’s on Buzzr

And then there's smokin' hot Todd Curtis -- unbelievably good looking -- that is until a bad car wreck about a year later, basically ended his career.

Check him out 13 minutes into this clip.

Or was it the 70’s when men of that time smoked and drank excessively? Not to mention these people were middle-aged 40+ years ago! The average lifespan is 70 something. And finally, cancer? They all died of cancer? You mean the most common deadly disease there is?

Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill are still alive and together at ages 86 and 81 respectively. If there was a curse they’d be goners, because I swear that was the only job they ever had. Seriously though I think chemicals from the green shag carpet on the set may have been carcinogenic to less fortunate Tattle Talers.

How the fuck did Bert Convey get his hair to DO THAT!?

The walls of the soundproof room were made of asbestos!!!

Patti Deutsch & Donald Ross: cancer

Fannie Flagg and Barbara Eden died on the same day of ovarian cancer. They never came out as a couple though.

Barbara Eden is not dead, dumbass @R38. She was just on a live talk show last week.

Barbara Eden and Fannie Flagg both died on October 28, 2011, Fannie was 55 and Barbara somewhat older. RIP.

The luscious-to-the-end Chad Everett, dead cancer.

His wife, Shelby Grant, dead brain aneurysm.

Man! Can you just imagine Chad Evert sitting on your face?

Both the host Bert Convy and Meredith Macrae died their mid 50s of brain cancer.

My mother always thought, and still does, that the light bulbs that were used for films in the golden age of Hollywood and a little later, gave off chemical damaging elements on film sets. And of course she pointed out the factors of everyone smoked back then and most drank ,but not all got drunk caused cancer and a myriad of other health issues.

In England we called this Mr & Mrs.

cos we is classy

I think Phyllis Diller and Rip Taylor were on as a couple.

Juliet Prouse has been dead for 20 years hasn't she? Cancer I believe.

I always thought the cash prize amounts that were divvied up "88" (just an estimate) ways per section was cheesy. If your couple only scored $150 you'd be issued a check for 1.70 and if you sat in the winning couple section with a total of $1450 you could leave 16.50 richer.

If we all lived long enough, we would all get cancer eventually. It's a fact of life.

Tattletales was 45 years ago, so I am not at all surprised all these people are dead from it.

[quote] Fannie Flagg and Barbara Eden died on the same day of ovarian cancer.

Is this some sort of unfunny joke? They are both alive.

Bert Convy used to shop in my supermarket.

Diller was on with her second husband, Warde Donovan -- who does look like Rip Taylor. After they divorced she said she hadn't known he was bisexual before they got married.

Did Lucy and Gary ever appear?

R46, I thought so, too, that is was Phyllis Diller and Rip Taylor. It was actually Phyllis’s husband, Warde Donovan. He looked like Rip Taylor. Warde was bisexual, I heard. Go figure.

OP I dont think you realize just how many people get cancer. It's insanely common. Be afraid.

[quote]After they divorced she said she hadn't known he was bisexual before they got married.

But Phyllis, I WASN'T bisexual before we got married.

R45 - he looks like Pierce Morgan’s dad.

I remember incredibly young Cheryl Ladd being on that show with her husband and she was touted as a singer, not an actress. I loved that show. And everyone is right, in the 70's you were contractually obligated to smoke and drink, of course these people got cancer.

Not only did they smoke, they did it on camera.

BRAIN cancer took Bobby Van, Meredith Macrae and Bert Convy. All were on Tattletales a lot (Convy as host of course). However weird as that is, I was floored by this: Conrad Bain's wife was given the question: "if you could live to 150 in good health would you?" She said no, I'm going at 86 - as though she KNEW it. Soooo... quick trip to wikipedia to look her up and - you guessed it - she died at 86!

One more thing: Van, Macrae and Convy died fairly young of brain cancer - in their 50s. This is not the same thing as dying of cancer in old age like most of us will.

[quote]it was a 70s game show. I'm sure there were some closeted gays on there, but it was such a taboo subject back then, that it was decades later before they were outed.

You’re telling me, honey.

Who was in the closet on Tattletales?

Every gay person, r62. There wasn’t anyone “out” then as today.

While it was known a lot of them were gay, like Charles Nelson Reilly and Paul Lynde, it was certainly never discussed nor (back then, at least) did they ever come out and say “I’m gay.”

It was more handled with a wink and a nod.

Game shows were full of 'stars' who had like one hit on B'way or something 20 years ago, and you didn't know who they were or why they were there.

I remember William Shatner and one of his wives on a lot, before Star Trek was re-booted into movie success.

JP Morgan was a prime example of that.

So were Bret Somers, CNR, Paul Lynde, etc.

They were famous for being on game shows, not really for anything else, in our minds anyway.

I loved TattleTales. They had a lot of interesting couples appear when they brought it back in the 80s, but many of those episodes aren’t rerun much.

Fannie Flagg is not dead. Joan Collins is not dead, either. William Shatner and Marcy Lafferty Shatner are both still alive and they were on both versions a lot. Orson and Carolyn Bean are still alive as well.

R66 Fuck off, I was married to TV's "Quincy".

It's Barbara Eden who died in 2011, from ovarian cancer. She was Fannie Flagg's girlfriend. Fannie had it too, but she survived. She is now involved with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Why do you keep posting that crap, r69?

[quote]JP Morgan was a prime example of that.

Hardly.

The most famous example of this sort of thing is the mid-1950s film The Conqueror, starring Susan Hayward and John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Original filming was done downwind of nuclear test sites and tons of contaminated soil were moved from the original site to Hollywood sets so the colors would match for further filming. A huge proportion of those involved eventually died of cancer, even if years later. It's discussed on the film's Wikipedia page.

And the film is considered a terrible camp classic.

R69, you're not funny. Stop it.

James Brolin was on with his first wife Jane Cameron (Josh's mom); Jane was killed in a car accident the day after Josh's 27th birthday.

Did the whore, Fannie, give Eden the OC?

I remember hearing about that, r72.

Barbara Eden is not dead, upthread idiot. She was just on Live with Kelly and Ryan last week (or maybe it was the week before). Stop your bullshit.

How is being on LIve with Kelly and Ryan proof that Barbara Eden is not dead? I heard she died of ovarian cancer in 2011.

Wow r77. Um, thanks for the info, but we settled that probably about, hmmm, three minutes after it was posted. And that was about 36 hours ago.

Good job, though. 👍

It bears repeating though, r79, since the Barbara Eden troll brought it back up again at r69. I read that and assumed he had meant Barbara Feldon had been Fannie’s ex who died. I had to look her up but, she’s still alive too. I don’t think either Barbara was involved with Fannie Flagg, and I’m sure the poster meant to write Mary Stuart Masterson instead of Mary Elizabeth Mastroantoino, though I can’t find any evidence either dated Ms, Flagg or appeared on Tattle Tales.

I heard that while the women had the headphones on during taping of tattletales there would be a lesbian eating the women out while they were giving their answers. Is this true??

Where are the gay couples?

Persons of color?

I didn't like Bert Convy, he wasn't funny but was forced to try to be funny, and his idea of that was incessant jokes about gays. He couldn't imagine anything more hilarious than someone being a homosexual. Chevy Chase was also just like that.

F&F for the Fannie Flagg troll.

Fannie Flagg doesn't have a troll. May she rest in peace.

Fannie Flagg, who is very much alive, appeared several times on TattleTales with closeted Bewitched actor Dick Sargent, who is very much dead. They fooled middle America into thinking they were a married couple.

R26, EYDIE was 84 years old when she died. Cause of death wasn't given, but she was 84. Dying at 84 for any reason is normal.

Barbara McNair??? Barbara was married to the mob, surprising she'd go on an idiot game show with one of her mafioso husbands.

AIDS victim

AIDS victim Amanda Blake appeared with her date a few times but not the guy who gave her AIDS

I wanted Dick Gautier in me quite deeply. Still do.

I’d say head over to Forest Lawn r90, but Dick was cremated.

My barely a teen self thought Charlie Brill was hot in the 70s.

Wow R79. Um, some asshat keeps bringing up this false info that BE is dead so I corrected his dumbass again. But thanks for commenting, obviously without reading the thread. Good job! Thanks again!

Snitches get stitches.

Who is the Barbara Eden death denyer? It's not like she died yesterday. There's been plenty of time to get over it. Get over it. She and Fannie found happiness for a time and their love made them brave. A beautiful legacy.

May her memory (and your bottle) be a comfort to you R93.

R95 is too stupid for words....

Formaldehyde.

Zsa Zsa Gabor and Jack Ryan: DEAD, I tell you.

Zsa Zsa outlived Barbara Eden by 5 years, but she wasn't having a great time at her last few birthdays.

R95, you must be new here.

R95 is sexy as fuck. When he arrives - it's just in time.

R96 and R100 - when you miss a llittle, you miss a lot

We should also mention the What’s My Line curse - all the regulars from that show are ALSO dead

Yes R103. They are all dead. In a blink. Strange.

Yeah but my ghost ish here to torment you bishes.

All that cheap polyester must have been carcinogenic.

Yes, R106, I was going to suggest it was all the toxins in the shag carpeting that killed off the participants.

Everyone at Ford’s Theatre the night of the Lincoln Assassination is also dead. Cursed? I think so.

[quote]Everyone at Ford’s Theatre the night of the Lincoln Assassination is also dead. Cursed? I think so.

Yes, they said “damn! Some asshole shot the motherfuckin’ President!”

[quote]Everyone at Ford’s Theatre the night of the Lincoln Assassination is also dead.

Not so fast ...