John Barbour, who created, produced and co-hosted the NBC reality television series from 1979 to 1985 Real peopleHe died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas, a family spokesman said. He was 93 years old.
The Toronto native began his career as a stand-up comedian, which led to appearances on shows hosted by Steve Allen, Joey Bishop and Dean Martin and gigs that served as the opening act for Robert Goulet and Bobby Darin in Las Vegas.
He also released two comedy albums in 1965 It’s hard to be white (which dealt with civil rights and race relations and included liner notes by Dick Gregory) and 1978 I met a man I didn’t like (With liner notes from Neil Simon).
Barbour was the pilot host of Gong show In 1976, before Chuck Barris took over, he is a writer and performer on the reboot Laugh In 1977-1978 and an actor in television series such as Be smart, Ironside, The odd couple, Sanford and Son, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Very bad.
Real peoplefilmed in front of a studio audience, featured profiles of non-celebrities with interesting professions or hobbies and initially achieved great ratings. Other hosts on the show include Sarah Purcell, Byron Allen, Skip Stevenson, Mark Russell, Peter Billingsley and Fred Willard.
Jonathan Barbour was born in Toronto on April 24, 1933. After his father abandoned him, he dropped out of high school and ran away from home at the age of 15, immigrating to the United States in the 1950s.
Barbour wrote episodes of My mother’s car and Gomer Pyle: US Marine Corps In the mid-1960s and in 1970 he became the inaugural host of KABC-TV. AM Los Angeleswhere he won the first of five Emmy Awards and generated controversy for interviewing anti-Vietnam War activists such as Muhammad Ali and Jane Fonda.
In 1971, he hosted a daytime talk show on KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, and later won another Emmy Award as “Critic at Large” on KNBC-TV.
Barbour wrote, produced, and narrated the 1982 documentary Ernie Kovacs: The Original Genius of Television In 1992, he won the Best Documentary Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival for his film The JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapeswhich profiled the New Orleans District Attorney and his murder investigation. Oliver Stone described his film as “the perfect companion piece to my film”. JFK“.
He then wrote and directed a 2017 sequel American media and the second assassination of John KennedyTwo years later, he published his autobiography, Your Mother’s No Virgin: The Rugged Life and Times of the Canadian Dropout Who Changed the Face of American Television!
Survivors include his wife, Sarita, and their son, Christopher.
