Skip to main content
R.I.P.

Hugh Downs, Longtime Host of ‘Today’ and ‘20/20’, Dies at 99

His first onscreen breakthrough came when his co-host on “The Tonight Show” walked off.

GettyImages-137240988_xr9ywe

Michael Loccisano/Getty

By Blake Montgomery

Hugh Downs, one of the longest-running hosts of the Today show and 20/20, died Wednesday night at home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 99. For many years, he held the Guinness World Record for most hours spent on network television, and he titled his 1986 memoir On Camera: My 10,000 Hours on Television. He first hit a breakthrough in his onscreen career when his co-host on The Tonight Show stormed off in protest of NBC removing a joke from the script. Downs carried the show for more than three weeks alone. Before television, he worked as a radio host. 

Read it at The New York Times

TRENDING NOW