A radio and TV producer and host, Edwards was best known for his show, This is Your Life (1952-1961) — a biography show that surprised the subject with a live presentation based on their life, with people from their past present to tell their part of the story. The show featured a mix of celebrities and what he called “unknown American Heroes” — ordinary people who made extraordinary contributions to society.
Edwards started on radio as a writer and announcer at 16, and in 1940 created, produced, and hosted Truth or Consequences on radio, a hit that later migrated to television, where it ran into the 1970s. Edwards leveraged his fame and ratings well: in 1948 he received the first “Gold Heart Award” from former President Herbert Hoover for raising the money needed to bring the American Heart Association to national prominence; in 1958 he featured Rear Admiral Samuel G. Fuqua, the last man to leave the sinking USS Arizona, on This is Your Life, and his appeals prompted viewers to contribute the seed money for the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii.
Edwards won three Emmy Awards, has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one for radio, one for TV), and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2001. In 1981 he was still at it, co-producing one of the first courtroom reality shows, The People’s Court; he only fully retired two years ago. He died in his sleep November 16 at age 92.