Peter Tomarken

Peter David Tomarken or Peter Tomarken (December 7, 1942 – March 13, 2006) was an American television personality primarily known as the host of the game show Press Your Luck.

Early Life
Tomarken was born in Olean, New York, the middle son of Barnett and Pearl Tomarken, who owned Dee's Jewelry store in Olean. His family was Jewish, members of Temple B'nai Israel. They relocate to Beverly Hills, California in the early 1950s. Tomarken graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1960 and from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in English.

After graduating from college, Tomarken married his first wife, Dana, who later served on Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1985-93. He and Dana ha three children: Jason, and fraternal twin sisters, Alexis and Candace.

Tomarken worked on the magazines Women's Wear Daily and Business Week in New York City during the late 1960s before moving back to California to work at various advertising agencies. He made an appearance as a reporter in the 1978 film Heaven Can Wait as well as character Roe in "The Secret Empire" portion of the short-lived NBC series Cliffhangers.

Game Show Career
He later started his own advertising firm, which put him behind and in front of the camera for many commercials in the late 1970s. His agent then suggested that he should try his hand at game show hosting to which Peter Tomarken replied "Why would I want to do that?" his agent said, "Because you work for days a month and get paid six figures!" After a pair of failed pilots for NBC --- Rodeo Drive in October 1980 (later picked as a series for Lifetime in 1990, ten years later) and Duel in the Daytime in August 1981, both produced by Jay Wolpert --- Tomarken got his first network job as host of Hit Man for NBC; it lasted just 13 weeks, from January 3 to April 1 of 1983. Also, he briefly co-anchored a news show on Playboy TV in New York City at the same time. Tomarken was then offered the hosting job for Press Your Luck, which he hosted for three seasons on CBS from 1983-1986.

After Press Your Luck, Tomarken hosted the pilot for Wordplay in October 1986 with announced Rod Roddy, but Tom Kennedy hosted and Charlie O'Donnell announced the series. Tomarken then hosted the short-lived Bargain Hunters for ABC during the summer of 1987. After a year hiatus, he returned to host Wipeout (which he also produced) which ran in syndication for one season (1988-89).

Tomarken's next project was a pilot for a game show adaptation of the classic board game Monopoly, which was produced by Merv Griffin and intended to air daily in syndication. After Griffin failed to sell the proposed series to enough stations, the project was reworked into a summer replacement weekly series for ABC in 1990 and Tomarken was replaced by Mike Reilly, a contestant on the pilot. He hosted several other unsold pilots including: TKO for Mark Goodson, Two Heads Are Better Than One for PYL producer Bill Carruthers, Winds of Fortune, Live Wire and Show Me the World before the game show market stalled in the early 1990s.

Tomarken then turned to working behind the scenes as a producer and writer. He joined the staff of ABC's America's Funniest People as a segment producer for one season in 1991. He also wrote and produced episodes for Real Stories of the Highway Patrol. He returned to the game show arena in 1994 when he was hired by the fledging GSN during its conception and early years in the mid-to-late 1990s, and served as host for their evening interactive telephone games, Prime Games, which featured Decades and Race for the Numbers. In 2000, Tomarken took his final hosting position on the Fox Family Channel game show Paranoia. He also appeared on several informercials and acted in small roles, including on the TV show Ally McBeal, during that time. He semi-retired from television to work as real estate agent.

When GSN decided to revive Tomarken's most successful series as Whammy!: The All-New Press Your Luck, Tomarken taped a pilot episode. Todd Newton (who also hosted the pilot) was eventually selected to host the revival.

In 2003, Tormarken returned to GSN to participate in a documentary based on Michael Larson's run on Press Your Luck in 1984. He narrated the program titled: Big Bucks: The Pres Your Luck Scandal which reunited the two contestants who competed against Michael Larson with Larson's brother, James, for a grudge match; James won with a total of $6,695. (Michael Larson had died in February 1999 of throat cancer).

Death
Tomarken - a private pilot - an his second wife Kathleen (born June 12, 1964) were killed when his Beechcraft Bonanza A36, N16JR, crashed a few hundred feet offshore in Santa Monica Bay during climb-out from the Santa Monica Airport in California on the morning of March 13, 2006. The aircraft lost power shortly after takeoff and Tomarken attempted to turn back to the airport before crashing into the bay. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the Tomarkens' chances of survival "would have significantly increased" had the plane been equipped with shoulder harnesses in addition to lap seat belts. The cause of the crash was determined to be an improper repair to the aircraft engine that resulted in a complete loss of power.

The Tomarkens were volunteers with Angel Flight West, a nonprofit organization that provides free air transportation to needy medical patients. They were en route to San Diego to pick up a cancer patient who needed transportation to UCLA Medical Center for treatment when their airplane crashed. The charity and the Tomarken children have since established a "Tomarken Heroes" fund in memory of the couple.

Tomarken and his wife Kathleen are buried in the same plot at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Tomarken was survived by his three children from his first marriage.

Goodson-Todman show hosted
TKO (1989 pilot)