Gene Patton
Date of Birth
Gene Patton was an NBC stagehand who was known for dancing on The Gong Show. The program was created and hosted by Chuck Barris (The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game), and aired on NBC daytime from 1976-78. Acts would audition on the show for three celebrity judges until they banged a gong to rid the stage of the subpar performances.
During the show Barris would introduce Patton and he would dance onstage to the song “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” putting everyone on set in a dancing mood. It was Barris who originally saw Patton dancing by himself one day during rehearsal when he decided to put him on the show and named him Gene Gene the Dancing Machine because, according to Patton, “Barris said I was such a good dancer, he had to name me twice.”
Patton also appeared as himself in The Gong Show Movie, a fictitious week in the life of Barris and the production of the show. He again appeared as himself in the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, an adaptation of Barris’s memoir, adapted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by George Clooney.
Gene Patton was an NBC stagehand who was known for dancing on The Gong Show. The program was created and hosted by Chuck Barris (The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game), and aired on NBC daytime from 1976-78. Acts would audition on the show for three celebrity judges until they banged a gong to rid the stage of the subpar performances.
During the show Barris would introduce Patton and he would dance onstage to the song “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” putting everyone on set in a dancing mood. It was Barris who originally saw Patton dancing by himself one day during rehearsal when he decided to put him on the show and named him Gene Gene the Dancing Machine because, according to Patton, “Barris said I was such a good dancer, he had to name me twice.”
Patton also appeared as himself in The Gong Show Movie, a fictitious week in the life of Barris and the production of the show. He again appeared as himself in the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, an adaptation of Barris’s memoir, adapted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by George Clooney.
Patton died March 9, 2015, in Pasadena, California. He was 82.
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