Charles Van Doren died of illness in Connecticut on April 9, 2019, at the age of 93.
"Quick Quiz" is based on a real event in American television in the 1950s. The puzzle game show called "Blackjack" was one of the most popular live TV shows in the United States at that time. Participants must answer the encyclopedia knowledge questions raised by the host, and the winner can accumulate bonuses and continue to sit in the competition. The winning champion in 1956 was Herb Stempel (Herb Stempel), but the TV show sponsors wanted to find a newcomer to replace him out of consideration to promote ratings. As a result, because he failed to answer "which was the best Oscar movie last year", Stanpey failed to defend the challenge. A young intellectual named Charles Van Doren became the new challenger, and he continued to defend it for a long time. He became a well-known TV star in the United States at the time, and even appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
At the time, Van Doren was an English teacher at Columbia University. With a master's degree in astrophysics and a doctorate in English from Columbia University, he was born in a family of intellectuals in New York. His father and uncle are well-known writers who have won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. With a good background, graceful elegance and good conversation, Van Dolen can be called an out-and-out intellectual male god.
Two months after participating in the competition, Van Doren finally failed due to a mistake in answering a question. He left the show with a jackpot of nearly 130,000 US dollars (approximately equivalent to the current 1.15 million), but still maintained a high popularity. NBC TV signed a three-year contract worth $150,000. As a guest guest, he appeared on the TV screen from time to time, continuing to enjoy the flowers and cheers of the audience.
Soon after, the long-forgotten defeat, Stan Pei, revealed to the media that he could not answer the Oscar best picture title at the time, purely because of the persecution of the TV show producer, and the entire "21 O'clock" program was suspected of being a system. For sex fraud, many players, including Van Doren, will get questions and answers in advance. The so-called live Q&A is actually practiced in advance.
On November 2, 1959, Van Doren admitted to the commission of investigation that he had participated in the fraud. This hearing was also broadcast nationwide on TV. Van Dolen, who became famous on TV screens, was eventually discredited in TV shots. He terminated his contract with NBC and resigned his faculty at Columbia University. Fortunately, the publishing industry accepted him. Over the next two decades, he participated in the compilation of "Encyclopedia Britannica" and co-authored many best-selling books including "How to Read a Book".
In 1982, he was honorably retired from the editorial department of Encyclopedia Britannica. Two years later, his son John successfully graduated from Columbia University. At his graduation ceremony, Van Dolen, who was sadly laid off that year, returned to his alma mater for the first time after more than 20 years. In his later years, he and his wife had been living in a country house in Connecticut and rarely showed up. At the beginning, Redford invited him to serve as a technical consultant for the movie "Quick Questions and Answers" and offered a six-figure salary, but under the persuasion of his wife, Van Doren chose to refuse.
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