Wonderama kids' TV pioneer Sonny Fox dies at 95

The Hollywood Reporter

Fox died Sunday of pneumonia induced by COVID-19 in a hospital in Encino, his daughter tells The Hollywood Reporter. A former prisoner of war in World War II, Fox went on to become the beloved host of the Sunday-morning kids' show Wonderama, starting in 1959. "I gradually began to understand what the show was about; the show was about me and the kids and about exploring their minds and getting to see where I could take them," Fox said in a 2008 interview with the TV Academy Foundation. "Then the show began to be hugely successful. After about a year, I had (the kids') trust, their loyalty." Fox went on to emcee game shows including The $64,000 Challenge and The Price Is Right and was the first producer of Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show.