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Don Wilson

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By Old Time Radio Shows


St. Joseph Gazette- Apr 27, 1982
Don Wilson, radio – TV figure, dies
-AP
Don Wilson dead
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP)—Don Wilson, the rotund foll of Jack Benny’s comedy routines on radio and television for more than 30 years, has died at the age of 81.
Wilson was found unconscious Sunday at his home in Cathedral City and was taken to Eisenhower Medical Center. Doctors at the hospital were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m. The cause of death was listed as a cerebral vascular accident or stroke.
He joined the Jack Benny radio show in 1933 after working as a sports announcer for NBC. He was initially only the program’s announcer, but Benny soon worked him into the show as a regular character.
His wife, Lois Corbet, also eventually became a character on the radio and television shows, along with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson. Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Mary Livingston, Artie “Mr. Kitzel” Auerbach, Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet, Verna Felton, Frank Nelson and all the rest.
“He was a great foil for Jack,” said Irving Fein, a producer and long-time associate of Benny. “He was the hearty announcer who tried to get the commercial on the air and Jack would try to thwart him.
“Sometimes Don would have the Sportsmen Quartet sneak in the commercial. Don would tell Jack the Sportsmen were going to do a song. Then they would sing a chorus of a song. Don would then tell Jack they had one more chorus—and they would sing the commercial.”
Wilson and his wife occasionally appeared in the theater. He was last in “The Big Broadcast of 1944,” which toured in the East with Dennis Day, who had been the singer on the Benny show, Gordon MacRae, and Harry James and his orchestra.
After moving to Palm Springs about 10 years ago, Wilson was host of “Town Talk,” a celebrity interview show on KMIR-TV from 1968 to 1975. For six months in 1975 he and his wife were hosts of “The Don and Lois Wilson Show” on KTLM-TV, now KESQ-TV.
Wilson also spent a year as the announcer on “The Kraft Music Hall” and on “The Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou Show,” both on radio.
The Jack Benny show began on radio in 1932 and moved to television in 1950. The show ended in 1965 and Benny died in 1974.
Wilson is survived by the wife, whom he married in Santa Barbara in 1950. It was his fourth marriage and her first. 
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