John Charles Daly was "a South African-born American radio and television personality, CBS News broadcast journalist, ABC News executive and TV anchor and a game show host, best known as the host and moderator of the CBS television panel show What's My Line? In World War II, he was the first national correspondent to report the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as covering much of the front-line news from Europe and North Africa."[1]
John Daly was born February 20, 1914, in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father was an American who was working there as a geologist. His mother was Irish. After his father died of duodenal ulceration at the age of 39,[2] his mother took John and his older brother to Boston, Massachusetts.[3] John studied at Tilton School in Tilton, New Hampshire, attended junior college there, and completed his education at Boston College.[4] His mother died in 1933 at Boston when John was 18 years of age.
John was married twice. His first wife was Margaret Griswell Neal, whom he married 9 January 1937 in Washington, D.C.[7] They were the parents of three children. John and Margaret were divorced April 1959.
John married Virginia Warren 22 December 1960 in San Francisco.[8] She was the daughter of U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. John and Virginia were the parents of three children. John gave all of his sons the first name of John, which had been a tradition in the family going back several generations.
John died after suffering a heart attack 24 February 1991 at Chevy Chase, Maryland, at the age of 77. John's remains were interred at Arlington National Cemetery[9]
Obituary:[10]
CHEVY CHASE, Md. -- John Charles Daly Jr., veteran radio and television journalist and host of the popular game show "What's My Line?" for nearly 18 years, died Sunday of cardiac arrest at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 77.
Daly anchored ABC's early evening news broadcast during the 1950s. He also served as director of Voice of America in 1967 and 1968 and was a World War II CBS radio correspondent in Europe and North Africa.
But he was best known as moderator of "What's My Line?", the longest running nighttime game show in network television history. The program, in which panelists like Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen and Arlene Francis were asked to guess contestants' occupations, was broadcast from February 1950 to September 1967.
Daly, who was known for his quick wit and steady disposition, began his broadcast career with the NBC radio affiliate in Washington in the 1930s. In 1937, he joined the Washington staff of CBS radio and covered the White House.
Daly joined the team of CBS correspondents who made broadcast history with their eyewitness accounts of World War II from all over the world. He covered military operations in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, as well as the Allied landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in France.
After the war, Daly worked for CBS in New York before becoming host of "What's My Line?"
While continuing to work as game-show moderator for CBS, Daly became vice president of news for ABC television. In 1953, he began a seven-year run as anchor of ABC's nightly news program. Daly left ABC in 1960 and had been retired since leaving Voice of America in 1968.
Daly is survived by his wife, the former Virginia Warren, daughter of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren of Chevy Chase; six children, including three from his first marriage; and two grandchildren.
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Categories: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia | Journalists | Emmy Award Winners of the 20th Century | Peabody Award Winners of the 20th Century | United States of America, Notables | Notables