Jim Lange

Jim Lange was a radio and television personality best known as the host of The Dating Game, the TV game show he emceed for more than a decade.

A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Lange got his start in radio after successfully auditioning for a local station at age 15. He worked at the station for two years, followed by university studies at the University of Minnesota and three years in the Marine Corps before returning to his media pursuits.

He initially returned to radio with a job at KGO, a station in San Francisco. In 1962 he broke into network television as an announcer and sidekick on The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. Chuck Barris, creator of The Dating Game, liked what he saw and hired Lange as the show's first host.

On The Dating Game, a young man or woman asked questions of three members of the opposite sex, hidden from view behind a partition, and ultimately selected one with whom to go on a date. Most of the contestants were not public figures, but during Lange's years with the show, guests included Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Steve Martin and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

When his run with The Dating Game ended, Lange went on to host other game shows, including Hollywood Connection, $100,000 Name That Tune and The New Newlywed Game.

Throughout his television career, Lange continued to work in radio in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. After he retired from TV in 2005, he became a morning disc jockey for Northern California station KABL-FM.

Lange died February 25, 2014, in Mill Valley, California. He was 81.