In the 1980s, John Davidson was a household name as the host of several popular game shows, including Time Machine, Hollywood Squares, and That’s Incredible!. However, his rapid success took a toll on his personal life, including his marriage to singer Jackie Miller.
Early Career and Rise to Fame
John Davidson’s entertainment career began in sitcoms and variety shows, with him serving as host of two primetime variety hour-long shows in 1966: The Kraft Summer Music Hall and The John Davidson Show. His fame exploded in the 1980s with the launch of That’s Incredible!, which featured regular people with unusual talents.
As PEOPLE reported in 1980, the then 38-year-old Davidson “signed a $7.5 million, five-year talk show deal when the Westinghouse broadcasting empire cruelly decided that Mike Douglas was too old, at 55, to be its syndicated flag-bearer. That made Davidson the dimpled darling of all television.”
Personal Struggles and Marriage
Davidson’s rapid success also “played hell with a home life that once seemed idyllic,” PEOPLE noted. His 11-year marriage to singer Jackie Miller was at that point strained, he told PEOPLE. “My wife and I are having trouble with our marriage,” Davidson said at the time. “It’s the only thing that keeps me from being totally happy. To fail at my marriage when everything else is going so well would really hurt.”
Davidson denied being romantic with other women at the time though, as PEOPLE noted, he did admit to a friendship with Rhonda Rivera, a member of his TV backup trio, Blush. In 1982, Davidson and Miller divorced, and he married Rivera in 1983.
Later Life and Career
Other than game shows, Davidson worked as an actor and musician. In 1967, he made his film debut in The Happiest Millionaire, appearing in the occasional sitcom and film after that and also recording twelve albums in the ’60s and ’70s.
The actor has had his share of struggles, opening up to PEOPLE about his brother Porter’s suicide at age 31. “When I was 26, starring in a Disney film in Hollywood, my brother Porter — a Yale graduate and math genius — [killed himself]. He just couldn’t stand to be alive. I was so locked in at the time that I didn’t show any emotion. Later it hit,” Davidson said.
Now 85, the actor, singer, and host remains married to his second wife, with the entertainer saying in a 2015 video filmed for the Openly Secular that they resided in New Hampshire.
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For more information on John Davidson’s life and career, you can visit People, a leading entertainment news source, as cited in the original article.
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