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Sue Oakland, 86, 1960s TV game show panelist (What's My Line?)

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Diner

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Mar 17, 2021, 8:31:30 PM3/17/21
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Sue Oakland made appearances as a panelist on several 1960s Goodson-Todman game shows, including "Snap Judgment" and "To Tell the Truth."
She is best known for making nine appearances as a guest panelist on the CBS version of "What's My Line?" in 1966 and 1967.
She later appeared on a week's worth of episodes of the show's syndicated version in 1968.
Per IMDB, "In the 1970s, she delivered editorials for WCBS-TV (Channel 2) in New York under the name Sue Cott."

From TV Guide, July 23, 1966:

Since the death of Dorothy Kilgallen the previous November, the What’s My Line? crew from Goodson-Todman has been engaged in “The Great Woman Hunt,” a furious search for a permanent replacement for Kilgallen, who had been with the show since its inception in 1950. So far the seat has remained in the possession of a rotating cast of guest stars – everyone from Kitty Carlisle (a stalwart of Goodson-Todman’s To Tell the Truth) to Dr. Joyce Brothers, with magazine publisher Helen Gurley Brown, TV Guide critic Judith Crist, columnist Sheilah Graham, and actresses Joanna Barnes, Joan Fontaine and Dina Merrill thrown in. Even Muriel Davidson, the author of this article, has been considered for the list. It’s a tough gig, though, coming into a long-running show with a veteran cast – as host John Daly puts it, “If she doesn’t fit into our family, we’ll just freeze her out.”
At press time there are three clear contenders for the seat. There’s Phyllis Newman, another veteran of To Tell the Truth, married to legendary Broadway composer Adolph Green; charming, bubbly and very girlish (and I mean that as a compliment), always having to tilt her head upward slightly during the Mystery Guest segment so her mask wouldn’t fall off. Sue Oakland is a surprise finalist; married to TV producer Ted Cott (David Susskind’s cousin), she’s got both beauty and brains: “Besides being breath-takingly beautiful and gowned, she is a near-genius, with a Master’s degree in political science from Columbia University and with one lovely leg up on a Ph.D.* *Her Master’s was in the inside workings of the United Nations; her Doctoral dissertation was “The Function of Television on the Presidential Election Campaign of 1968."
And then there’s society columnist Suzy Knickerbocker, whose nameplate will eventually simply read “Suzy” rather than the letter-crunching “Miss Knickerbocker.”


https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=suzanne-wunderman&pid=198066596
SUZANNE WUNDERMAN
WUNDERMAN--Suzanne. Emmy-winning TV personality died March 14, 2021 at age 86 from natural causes. Married first to TV/radio pioneer Ted Cott from 1956 to 1973 and then to direct marketing icon Lester Wunderman from 1975 to 2019. She was a model, actress, TV game show panelist, and Director of Editorials at WCBS-TV, winning a 1982 Emmy. She graduated high school at 15, got her B.A. from Barnard College at 18 and a master's and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. Survived by sons James, Thomas, and Patrick Cott, stepson Marc Wunderman, stepdaughter Karen Wunderman, and six grandchildren. No funeral will be held. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to High Ridge House in Riverdale, NY.

Published in New York Times on Mar. 17, 2021.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643002/

Louis Epstein

unread,
Mar 17, 2021, 10:30:13 PM3/17/21
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Diner <bway...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sue Oakland made appearances as a panelist on several 1960s Goodson-Todman game shows, including "Snap Judgment" and "To Tell the Truth."
> She is best known for making nine appearances as a guest panelist on the CBS version of "What's My Line?" in 1966 and 1967.
> She later appeared on a week's worth of episodes of the show's syndicated version in 1968.
> Per IMDB,

>"In the 1970s, she delivered editorials for WCBS-TV (Channel 2) in New
> York under the name Sue Cott."

That I remember...
though I more often watched WNBC's.

> From TV Guide, July 23, 1966:
>
> Since the death of Dorothy Kilgallen the previous November, the What?s My Line? crew from Goodson-Todman has been engaged in ?The Great Woman Hunt,? a furious search for a permanent replacement for Kilgallen, who had been with the show since its inception in 1950. So far the seat has remained in the possession of a rotating cast of guest stars ? everyone from Kitty Carlisle (a stalwart of Goodson-Todman?s To Tell the Truth) to Dr. Joyce Brothers, with magazine publisher Helen Gurley Brown, TV Guide critic Judith Crist, columnist Sheilah Graham, and actresses Joanna Barnes, Joan Fontaine and Dina Merrill thrown in. Even Muriel Davidson, the author of this article, has been considered for the list. It?s a tough gig, though, coming into a long-running show with a veteran cast ? as host John Daly puts it, ?If she doesn?t fit into our family, we?ll just freeze her out.?
> At press time there are three clear contenders for the seat. There?s Phyllis Newman, another veteran of To Tell the Truth, married to legendary Broadway composer Adolph Green; charming, bubbly and very girlish (and I mean that as a compliment), always having to tilt her head upward slightly during the Mystery Guest segment so her mask wouldn?t fall off. Sue Oakland is a surprise finalist; married to TV producer Ted Cott (David Susskind?s cousin), she?s got both beauty and brains: ?Besides being breath-takingly beautiful and gowned, she is a near-genius, with a Master?s degree in political science from Columbia University and with one lovely leg up on a Ph.D.* *Her Master?s was in the inside workings of the United Nations; her Doctoral dissertation was ?The Function of Television on the Presidential Election Campaign of 1968."
> And then there?s society columnist Suzy Knickerbocker, whose nameplate will eventually simply read ?Suzy? rather than the letter-crunching ?Miss Knickerbocker.?
>
>
> https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=suzanne-wunderman&pid=198066596
> SUZANNE WUNDERMAN
> WUNDERMAN--Suzanne. Emmy-winning TV personality died March 14, 2021 at age 86 from natural causes. Married first to TV/radio pioneer Ted Cott from 1956 to 1973 and then to direct marketing icon Lester Wunderman from 1975 to 2019. She was a model, actress, TV game show panelist, and Director of Editorials at WCBS-TV, winning a 1982 Emmy. She graduated high school at 15, got her B.A. from Barnard College at 18 and a master's and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. Survived by sons James, Thomas, and Patrick Cott, stepson Marc Wunderman, stepdaughter Karen Wunderman, and six grandchildren. No funeral will be held. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to High Ridge House in Riverdale, NY.
>
> Published in New York Times on Mar. 17, 2021.
>
> https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643002/

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