50 years ago today: The Password is... Premiere!

[Vahan]

50 years ago, the original Password premiered on CBS Daytime. It was hosted by Allen Ludden, who met his future-wife, and frequent guest Betty White a few weeks into the run. It was the first celebrity game show to have two teams, one celebrity and one contestant, and was created by future Pyramid creator Bob Stewart (a Goodson-Todman employee at the time). It ran until 1967.

There was also a CBS Primetime run, and an ABC daytime revival from 1971-1975 (it was briefly-revamped into Password All-Stars). In 1979, a newly-revamped version called Password Plus premiered on NBC, with Ludden returning as host. Unfortunately, in 1980 he became too ill to host (he passed away a year later) and Tom Kennedy took over until its cancellation in 1982.

In 1984, another NBC daytime revival, Super Password with Bert Convy premiered, and ran until 1989. The most recent revival was in 2008 for CBS Primetime as Million Dollar Password with Regis Philbin as host.