Hollywood Flashback: ‘Password’ Unlocked the First-Ever Game Show Emmy

Password is considered one of the greatest television game shows of all time — so great that it has been revived in different iterations on CBS, ABC and NBC over the past 60 years. The current reboot, hosted by Keke Palmer on NBC, is eligible this year for Emmy consideration in the outstanding game show and game show host categories — two honors that for the first time will be part of the Primetime Emmys instead of the Daytime Emmys.

Password first aired on CBS in 1961. The premise: two teams, each composed of one celebrity and one “civilian,” battle to be first to correctly guess a hidden word. Each team is given a single-word clue and works against the clock to guess the Password and earn points toward a cash prize. Allen Ludden served as the show’s original emcee and hosted the ABC reboot from 1971 to 1975 — during which time Password won outstanding game show at the first Daytime Emmy Awards, in 1974 (to mark the occasion, an Emmy statue became part of the set’s backdrop for several months). Ludden also hosted an updated version a few years later, Password Plus on NBC. He himself won a Daytime Emmy for best game show host in 1976. His memorable opening line, “Hi, doll,” was an address to Tess White — mother of his wife, Betty White, whom he met on Password in the ’60s when she was a celebrity guest.

Ludden hosted the show until 1980, when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer (he died in 1981). White would go on to appear as a contestant in another reboot of the franchise, Million Dollar Password, on CBS in 2008. THR‘s review claimed: “Celebs in the premiere were bubbly Rachael Ray and thoughtful Neil Patrick Harris. They played well, but the highlight of the six-episode run might well be June 12, when Betty White, a veteran player and Ludden’s widow, is one of the celebrity players.” In a 2010 appearance on Larry King Live, White was asked whether she would ever remarry. She replied, “When you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”

This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.