# Peter Tomarken
**Peter Tomarken** (born Peter David Tomarken; 1942 – March 13, 2006) was an American television game show host, actor, and producer, best known as the original host of CBS's *Press Your Luck* from 1983 to 1986[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/) • [2](https://buzzrtv.com/show/vintage/press-your-luck). He died with his wife Kathleen when the small plane he was piloting on a volunteer medical mission crashed into Santa Monica Bay[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1942, Olean, New York[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/) |
| Died | March 13, 2006, aged 63, in a plane crash into Santa Monica Bay, Santa Monica, California[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) |
| Signature show | *Press Your Luck*, CBS, 1983–1986[2](https://buzzrtv.com/show/vintage/press-your-luck) |
| First hosting job | *Hit Man*, NBC, 1983, which ran 13 weeks[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/crash-kills-former-game-host-wife/) |
| Other shows hosted | *Bargain Hunters*, *Wordplay* (pilot), *Wipeout*, *Monopoly* (pilot), and Fox Family Channel's *Paranoia*[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [5](https://irp.cdn-website.com/f988ce07/files/uploaded/DRbook2011-1.7.16.pdf) |
| Earlier careers | Clothing editor for *Woman's Wear Daily*, associate editor of *Business Week*, commercial producer and director[6](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/TV-Stars-The-Complete-Directory-to-Prime-Time-1964-Present-B--221117.pdf) |
| Catchphrase | "Big Bucks, No Whammies!", associated with his hosting of *Press Your Luck*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/) |
## Early life and career before hosting
Tomarken graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in English and began his career working on magazines[2](https://buzzrtv.com/show/vintage/press-your-luck). A profile in *The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows* lists positions as clothing editor for *Woman's Wear Daily* and associate editor of *Business Week*[6](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/TV-Stars-The-Complete-Directory-to-Prime-Time-1964-Present-B--221117.pdf), and a memoir account describes him as an editor at Women's Wear Daily and Business Week, which led him into advertising[7](https://www.newsfromme.com/2006/03/13/peter-tomarken-r-i-p/).
**From commercials to the camera.** He created and produced television commercials, including the talking beavers used in a chain saw advertisement, and later moved from producing commercials to acting in them and in television and film[6](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/TV-Stars-The-Complete-Directory-to-Prime-Time-1964-Present-B--221117.pdf). His acting credits include the television movie *Secrets* (1977), the film *[Heaven Can Wait](https://www.edgepedia.org/heaven-can-wait-1978-film)* (1978), and a guest appearance on *The Rockford Files*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/) • [8](https://www.nexttv.com/news/game-show-host-tomarken-dies-79229).
## Game show hosting
Tomarken's first show was *Hit Man*, an NBC quiz in which contestants climbed a ladder by answering questions about a short story; it ran 13 weeks[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/crash-kills-former-game-host-wife/). His biggest hit followed a year later: *Press Your Luck*, which debuted on CBS in 1983 and ran until September 1986[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [2](https://buzzrtv.com/show/vintage/press-your-luck).
In *Press Your Luck*, three contestants answered questions to earn spins on the Big Board, an 18-square display of cash amounts, prizes, and the cartoon "Whammy", a character who could take away a contestant's accumulated winnings[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [9](https://capitalideasonline.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Compilation3.pdf). The Los Angeles Times credited Tomarken with helping usher in an era of programs that used computer-generated graphics and themes, with the computerized Whammy as the most famous example[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html).
**The Michael Larson episode.** The show's best-known moment came in 1984, when contestant Michael Larson, an ice-cream truck driver, studied taped episodes and found that the Big Board's supposedly random light sequence followed six predictable patterns. Using this knowledge he won $110,237 in cash and prizes, the largest win in the show's history[9](https://capitalideasonline.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Compilation3.pdf) • [10](https://www.biography.com/history-culture/a64341652/michael-larson-press-your-luck-scandal). The game was redesigned afterward to add more spaces and patterns[10](https://www.biography.com/history-culture/a64341652/michael-larson-press-your-luck-scandal). Tomarken later hosted a two-hour [Game Show Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/game-show-network) documentary on the episode, *Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal* (2003)[11](https://filmbladet.dk/mennesker/peter-tomarken) • [12](https://www.federalbaseball.com/2006/3/13/232734/337).
After *Press Your Luck* ended in 1986, Tomarken hosted *Bargain Hunters* and *Wipeout*, among others, as well as the pilot episodes of *Wordplay* and *Monopoly*[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [19](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/monopoly/cast/1000184916/). On *Wipeout* he also held a supervising producer role and wrote two episodes[13](https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic%2C2182.0.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/). For Fox Family Channel he hosted *Paranoia*, and for a time he co-anchored a news show on [Playboy TV](https://www.edgepedia.org/playboy-tv)[5](https://irp.cdn-website.com/f988ce07/files/uploaded/DRbook2011-1.7.16.pdf) • [6](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/TV-Stars-The-Complete-Directory-to-Prime-Time-1964-Present-B--221117.pdf).
## Later work
In the 1990s Tomarken hosted *Decades*, the Game Show Network's first live interactive game show, which aired during the network's *Prime Games* block[14](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Satellite-Times/Satellite-Times-1995-07-08.pdf). In 2002 he taped the pilot for GSN's revival *Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck*, though the series ultimately went to Todd Newton[15](https://press-your-luck.fandom.com/wiki/Whammy%21_The_All_New_Press_Your_Luck). A game show forum discussion notes that Tomarken hosted four pilots, *Rodeo Drive*, *Wordplay*, *Monopoly*, and *Whammy!*, that each eventually aired with a different host[16](https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php?topic=33892.0). He also hosted infomercials, including a 1999 commercial for Ameritrade[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/).
## Death
On the morning of March 13, 2006, Tomarken was piloting his 1973 Beechcraft A36 from Santa Monica Airport on a volunteer flight for Angel Flight West, a nonprofit that provides free air transportation to medical patients, to pick up a patient in San Diego for treatment at UCLA Medical Center[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html). Shortly after takeoff he reported engine trouble and attempted to return to the airport; the plane crashed into the ocean just south of the [Santa Monica Pier](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-monica-pier), killing Tomarken, 63, and his wife Kathleen, 41, with a third person aboard missing and presumed dead[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html). A preliminary [National Transportation Safety Board](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-transportation-safety-board) report cited engine failure as the likely cause, describing an 8-inch-by-6-inch hole in the engine case between two cylinders[17](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-20-me-plane20-story.html).
His obituary lists his survivors as son Jason Tomarken, daughters Alexis and Candace Tomarken, brothers Edward and James Tomarken, and former wife Dana Tomarken; the family asked for donations to the Peter and Kathleen Tomarken Heroes Fund through Angel Flight West[18](https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/peter-tomarken-obituary?id=25984824).
Colleagues remembered him warmly. Agent Fred Wostbrock circulated a statement from veteran host [Bob Eubanks](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-eubanks) calling Tomarken "one of the most underrated game show hosts in television" who "could adapt to any type of game show format"[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html). Writer Mark Evanier recalled him as "a classy and clever presence on my television" with "a wicked sense of humor"[7](https://www.newsfromme.com/2006/03/13/peter-tomarken-r-i-p/).
## References
1. [Peter Tomarken, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866390/)
2. [Press Your Luck: Meet the Host, BUZZR](https://buzzrtv.com/show/vintage/press-your-luck)
3. [TV Game Show Host, Wife Killed, Los Angeles Times (March 14, 2006)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-14-me-plane14-story.html)
4. [Crash Kills Former Game Host, Wife, CBS News/AP (March 14, 2006)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/crash-kills-former-game-host-wife/)
5. [Hillside Memorial Park Residents book entry: Peter D. Tomarken (1942–2006)](https://irp.cdn-website.com/f988ce07/files/uploaded/DRbook2011-1.7.16.pdf)
6. [TV Stars: The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows entry on Peter Tomarken](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/TV-Stars-The-Complete-Directory-to-Prime-Time-1964-Present-B--221117.pdf)
7. [Peter Tomarken, R.I.P., News From ME (March 13, 2006)](https://www.newsfromme.com/2006/03/13/peter-tomarken-r-i-p/)
8. [Game Show Host Tomarken Dies, Broadcasting & Cable (March 13, 2006)](https://www.nexttv.com/news/game-show-host-tomarken-dies-79229)
9. [Press Your Luck: The Titanic of Game Shows, Forum for Multidisciplinary Thinking](https://capitalideasonline.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Compilation3.pdf)
10. [Inside Michael Larson's Improbable 'Press Your Luck' Appearance, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/history-culture/a64341652/michael-larson-press-your-luck-scandal)
11. [Peter Tomarken filmography, Filmbladet](https://filmbladet.dk/mennesker/peter-tomarken)
12. [OT: Peter Tomarken (1943–2006), Federal Baseball (March 14, 2006)](https://www.federalbaseball.com/2006/3/13/232734/337)
13. [The producer is the host?, Game Show Forum (2003)](https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic%2C2182.0.html)
14. [So, You Like to Play Along? Satellite Times (July 1995)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Satellite-Times/Satellite-Times-1995-07-08.pdf)
15. [Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck, Press Your Luck Wikia](https://press-your-luck.fandom.com/wiki/Whammy%21_The_All_New_Press_Your_Luck)
16. [Peter Tomarken Pilots, Game Show Forum (2022)](https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php?topic=33892.0)
17. [Plane's Engine Faulted in Crash, Los Angeles Times (March 20, 2006)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-20-me-plane20-story.html)
18. [Peter David Tomarken Obituary, Legacy.com / Los Angeles Times](https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/peter-tomarken-obituary?id=25984824)
19. [Monopoly - Full Cast & Crew - TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/monopoly/cast/1000184916/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Television presenters and hosts › Game show hosts and announcers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license