The original host was Clayton "Bud" Collyer, a distinguished gentleman who had been hosting the rather loony Beat the Clock since 1950, and previously provided the voice of Superman on radio.
The original announcer was Bern Bennett, who was to Goodson/Todman Productions in the '50s what Johnny Olsen was in the late '60s and '70s - the go-to- guy. Bern left the show in '60; later that year, Olsen himself came aboard and stuck around until the early '70s, when he moved to L.A. and joined up with The Price is Right.
It took a few years for a regular panel to settle down, but by the early '60s viewers grew accustomed to seeing the faces that would define TTTT through several eras: Orson Bean, Kitty Carlisle (both pictured to the left), Peggy Cass, and Tom Poston.
Among the guest panelists who frequently dropped by was a young comic named Johnny Carson. What the heck ever happened to him? Other names of note that frequently played the game at various points in time: Polly Bergen, Merv Griffin, Dina Merrill, Sam Levensen, Sally Ann Howes and Bert Convy. Merv Griffin was also one of the incredibly large number of guest-hosts who pinch-hit for Collyer; others included Gene Rayburn, newsman John Cameron Swayze, and even Mark Goodson himself!
The primetime version of Truth ended its run in 1967, with the daytime show going one year longer. But the show wasn't gone for long...
The show goes on... 5 nights a week
