Arthur Godfrey

Arthur Morton Godfrey August 31 1903 March 16 1983 was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead No television personality of the 1950s enjoyed more clout or fame than Godfrey until an oncamera incident undermined his folksy image and triggered a gradual decline the thenubiquitous Godfrey helmed two CBSTV weekly series and a daily 90minute television midmorning show through most of the decade but by the early 1960s found himself reduced to hosting an occasional TV special Arguably the most prominent of the mediums early master commercial pitchmen he was strongly identified with many of his many sponsors especially Chesterfield cigarettes and Lipton Tea After many years for Chesterfield during which Godfrey came up with the idea and slogan Buy em by the carton he severed the relationship during one of his television programs when his doctors convinced him that his lung cancer was due to smoking Subsequently he became a prominent spokesman for antismoking education Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur Godfrey licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia