Charles Van Doren, figure in game show scandals, dies at 93
AP
This Oct. 14, 1959 file photo shows Charles Van Doren at New York's hotel Roosevelt. Van Doren, who admitted his television quiz show performances in the 1950s had been rigged, died on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, in Canaan, Conn. He was 93.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 | 9:24 a.m.
HARTFORD, Conn. — The central figure in the TV game show scandals of the late 1950s has died. Charles Van Doren was 93.
His son, John Van Doren, said he died of natural causes Tuesday at a care center for the elderly in Canaan, Connecticut.
Van Doren won a then-record $129,000 on the show "Twenty-One" in late 1956 and early 1957. He eventually pleaded guilty to perjury for lying to a Manhattan grand jury that investigated the scandal.
He later admitted in testimony before Congress that he had been given advance answers.
He spent the following decades largely out of the public eye.
Ralph Fiennes played Van Doren in "Quiz Show," a 1994 film directed by Robert Redford and also starring John Turturro.