Charles Van Doren

Charles Van Doren (born February 12, 1926 in Manhattan , New York City , † April 9, 2019 in Canaan , Connecticut ) became known as a candidate for the American quiz show Twenty-One .

Charles Van Doren (right) with Twenty-One presenter Jack Barry (center) (1957)

Life

He was the son of the poet and Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Van Doren and the writer Dorothy Van Doren and distinguished himself from youth as a versatile intellectual. He earned a BA in English Literature from St. John's College , Annapolis , Maryland , and a PhD in this subject from New York's Columbia University , where he also earned an MA in astrophysics .

In 1956 he applied as a candidate for the television quiz show Twenty-One . Their producers struggled with falling audience ratings and decided to manipulate the show's results and make Van Doren a star. In January 1957 his winning streak began, which lasted until March 11th of that year. That day he lost to Vivienne Nearing, whose husband he had previously beaten. In the meantime Van Doren achieved national fame; his portrait graced the cover of TIME magazine on February 11th . In total, his winnings totaled around $ 138,000.

Soon after his winning streak began, rumors surfaced that Van Doren got the answers from the show's producers. He initially denied these allegations, but ultimately admitted the manipulations in November 1959 before an investigative committee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce , which investigated the quiz show scandal .

Van Doren had worked as a teacher at his alma mater , Columbia University, until the fraud was discovered . He resigned from this position after the scandal and became editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica . He published several books, of which A History of Knowledge is arguably the best known. Charles Van Doren last lived with his family near Falls Village, Connecticut.

In 1994 Robert Redford filmed the story of Van Doren in Quiz Show , in which he was played by Ralph Fiennes .

Fonts

• With Mortimer Adler : How to Read a Book. A Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. New York: Simon & Schuster 1972. ISBN 978-0-67121209-4
• History of knowledge. From the American English by Anita Ehlers. 1st edition 1996, new edition by Springer, Basel 2014. ISBN 978-3-0348-6010-9 ; Original: A History of Knowledge

Web links

Commons : Charles Van Doren  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Literature by and about Charles Van Doren in the catalog of the German National Library
• Charles van Doren on the Time front page, February 11, 1957
• Robert D. McFadden: Charles Van Doren, a Quiz Show Whiz Who Wasn't, Dies at 93. In: The New York Times . April 10, 2019 (English).