Trivia

He was the son of Edith (Hicks) and Milton Howard Downs, who worked in business. He was a descendant of Davy Crockett, the 19th century frontiersman and later congressman from Tennessee.

The Guinness Book of World Records holder for greatest number of hours on network commercial television (1985).

Got his start in network TV in 1949 when he won the job as announcer on the children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947).

He had a post-Masters degree in gerontology from Hunter College.

He was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, Chairman of the Board of US Committee for UNICEF, and Trustee of the Menninger Foundation. He also served as a member of the NASA Advisory Council.

The auditorium at his high school alma mater, Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio, is named in his honor.

Co-host, with medical reporter Arthur P. Johnson, of an infomercial for the book, "The World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets". (2006)

Co-host, with Joan Lunden, of an infomercial for Steve Scott's "Master Strategies of Super Achievers" personal coaching system. (2006)

He was the 1982 recipient of the prestigious Connor Award given by the brothers of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity based out of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also an honorary brother of the fraternity.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, vol. 135, pages 117-120. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Survived by his two children, Hugh Raymond, Deirdre Lynn Downs, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.