Jim McKrell
Encyclopedia
James "Jim" MacKrell is an television personality, best known for emceeing television game shows such as Celebrity Sweepstakes
and The Game Game
. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas
. Published variations of his name include James MacKrell, Jim McKrell and James McKrell.
. He also hosted The Game Game
, Quiz Kids
, plus several unsold game show pilots. He also was the announcer of the game shows Sweethearts
in 1988 and Couch Potatoes
in 1989. McKrell's career has taken him to all areas of television and movies. His theatrical credits include such memorable films as Woody Allen
's Annie Hall
(1977
), Albert Brooks
' Defending Your Life
(1991
) Semi-Tough
(1978
), Teen Wolf
(1985
) with Michael J. Fox
and Harry's War
(1981). McKrell also played TV news reporter Lew Landers in two movies directed by Joe Dante
, The Howling
(1981) and Gremlins
(1984
), and has had guest starring roles on television in Dallas, Soap
, Moonlighting
and The Golden Girls
among over 40 others. His made-for-TV movies include Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. (1977), Walk Don't Run and A Reason to Live (1985). McKrell was also a regular on General Hospital
, Capitol
, Generations and Days of our Lives
.
As a performer/writer/producer, McKrell has made advertising a major focal point of his career. He has been corporate spokesman for giants such as Chevrolet
and Disney. He has starred in spots for household names such as Whirlpool
, Fiber Con, Serta
, Goodyear
, Mattel
, Oster
, Radio Shack
, Entex
, and more. He also has appeared as a spokesman for industrial and corporate films for Toyota, Exxon
, Xerox
, Shell
, Coca Cola, and others. For 14 years, McKrell was the corporate host for the National Easter Seals
Telethon, and he wrote and produced several projects for ACTA Communications in Chicago. He has also done a good share of television informercials.
A veteran of radio
, his credits include some of the top radio stations in the nation including KMPC
and KFI
Los Angeles, WMEX
in Boston, WNOE in New Orleans, KBOX
in Dallas, KXOL
in Fort Worth (under the on-air name, Jimmy Kaye, where he worked with longtime friend George Carlin
), and WFUN
Miami. In recent years, he hosted a top rated talk show in Houston, Texas on KKTL
, and was a news anchor at KHTV Channel 39 in Houston.
Jim's father, James "Mac" MacKrell, Sr., was a radio personality on KCUL
radio station in Fort Worth, Texas
.
)), he is basically retired and lives near Conroe, Texas
. He is still very active and plays tennis
daily.
MacKrell published his first fictional novel, Down from the Mountain: the Story of Bandit and the Wolf. According to press releases, "It is an action-packed novel as far sweeping as the big skies of Montana, where it all takes place. Jim MacKrell salutes the resolve of the American rancher and the animals that work ‘loyally’ alongside to provide the very essence of our rural way of life."
Celebrity Sweepstakes
Celebrity Sweepstakes is an American television game show that aired on NBC's daytime schedule from April 1, 1974 to October 1, 1976. The show also had two separate weekly syndicated runs from September 9, 1974 to September 1975 and September 20, 1976 to September 1977.Jim McKrell hosted the show....
and The Game Game
The Game Game
The Game Game was a game show hosted by Jim McKrell. It was packaged by Chuck Barris and aired during the 1969-1970 season; the show was Barris' first syndicated program.-Gameplay:The game involved one contestant and three celebrities...
. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. Published variations of his name include James MacKrell, Jim McKrell and James McKrell.
Show business career
Jim MacKrell's broadcast career has spanned five decades and has included every aspect of communications from local and network commercials to hosting specials to guest starring in popular series and features. McKrell was the host and star of the hit NBC game show Celebrity SweepstakesCelebrity Sweepstakes
Celebrity Sweepstakes is an American television game show that aired on NBC's daytime schedule from April 1, 1974 to October 1, 1976. The show also had two separate weekly syndicated runs from September 9, 1974 to September 1975 and September 20, 1976 to September 1977.Jim McKrell hosted the show....
. He also hosted The Game Game
The Game Game
The Game Game was a game show hosted by Jim McKrell. It was packaged by Chuck Barris and aired during the 1969-1970 season; the show was Barris' first syndicated program.-Gameplay:The game involved one contestant and three celebrities...
, Quiz Kids
Quiz Kids
Quiz Kids, a popular radio-TV series of the 1940s and 1950s, was created by Chicago public relations and advertising man Louis G. Cowan . Originally sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, the series was first broadcast on NBC from Chicago, June 28, 1940, airing as a summer replacement show for Alec Templeton...
, plus several unsold game show pilots. He also was the announcer of the game shows Sweethearts
Sweethearts (US game show)
Sweethearts was an American television game show based on the British series of the same name which aired from September 12, 1988 to September 8, 1989. The show was syndicated throughout the United States by Multimedia Entertainment....
in 1988 and Couch Potatoes
Couch Potatoes (game show)
Couch Potatoes was an American game show that aired in syndication as a midseason replacement from January 23 to September 8, 1989 with reruns airing on USA Network...
in 1989. McKrell's career has taken him to all areas of television and movies. His theatrical credits include such memorable films as Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Annie Hall
Annie Hall
Annie Hall is a 1977 American romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay co-written with Marshall Brickman and co-starring Diane Keaton. One of Allen's most popular and most honored films, it won four Academy Awards including Best Picture...
(1977
1977 in film
The year 1977 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network....
), Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks
Albert Lawrence Brooks is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News...
' Defending Your Life
Defending Your Life
Defending Your Life is a 1991 romantic comedy/fantasy film about a man who must justify his lifelong fears and insecurities after he dies and arrives in the afterlife. The film was written, directed by, and stars Albert Brooks. It also stars Meryl Streep, Rip Torn and Lee Grant.The movie was filmed...
(1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
) Semi-Tough
Semi-Tough
Semi-Tough is a 1977 film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Lotte Lenya, Bert Convy, and Brian Dennehy. The plot involves a love triangle between the characters portrayed by Reynolds, Kristofferson and Clayburgh...
(1978
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....
), Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf is a 1985 American fantasy comedy film released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf...
(1985
1985 in film
-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...
) with Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
and Harry's War
Harry's War (1981 film)
Harry's War is a feature length independent film from American Film Consortium and Taft International Pictures, released in 1981. Starring Edward Herrmann, Geraldine Page, Karen Grassle, David Ogden Stiers, Elisha Cook, Salome Jens and Noble Willingham...
(1981). McKrell also played TV news reporter Lew Landers in two movies directed by Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
, The Howling
The Howling (film)
The Howling is a 1981 werewolf-themed horror film directed by Joe Dante. Based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the screenplay is written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless...
(1981) and Gremlins
Gremlins
Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...
(1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
), and has had guest starring roles on television in Dallas, Soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
, Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
and The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
among over 40 others. His made-for-TV movies include Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. (1977), Walk Don't Run and A Reason to Live (1985). McKrell was also a regular on General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
, Capitol
Capitol (TV series)
Capitol is an American soap opera which aired on CBS from March 29, 1982 to March 20, 1987 for 1,270 episodes. As its name suggests, the storyline usually revolved around the political intrigues of people whose lives intertwined in Washington D.C....
, Generations and Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
.
As a performer/writer/producer, McKrell has made advertising a major focal point of his career. He has been corporate spokesman for giants such as Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
and Disney. He has starred in spots for household names such as Whirlpool
Whirlpool
A whirlpool is a swirling body of water usually produced by ocean tides. The vast majority of whirlpools are not very powerful. More powerful ones are more properly termed maelstroms. Vortex is the proper term for any whirlpool that has a downdraft...
, Fiber Con, Serta
Serta (company)
Serta is a company based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois that specializes in making mattresses. It was founded in 1931 by 13 mattress manufacturers who licensed the Serta name, and now eight independent licensees acting like a cooperative own the company...
, Goodyear
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
, Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
, Oster
Oster
Oster is a city located where the Oster River flows into the Desna in Chernihiv Oblast of Ukraine. As of January 1, 2005, its population is 7,100....
, Radio Shack
Radio shack
Radio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
, Entex
Entex Industries
Entex Industries, Inc. was a toy and electronic game manufacturer based in Compton, California. The company was active during the 1970s and 1980s.-Background:...
, and more. He also has appeared as a spokesman for industrial and corporate films for Toyota, Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
, Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
, Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, Coca Cola, and others. For 14 years, McKrell was the corporate host for the National Easter Seals
Easter Seals
Easter Seals is an international charitable organization devoted to providing opportunities for children with physical disabilities. See*Easter Seals *Easter Seals *Easter Seals...
Telethon, and he wrote and produced several projects for ACTA Communications in Chicago. He has also done a good share of television informercials.
A veteran of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, his credits include some of the top radio stations in the nation including KMPC
KMPC
KMPC is a radio station based in Los Angeles, California and is owned by P&Y Broadcasting Licensee, LLC. Radio Korea is a division of the Radio Korea Media Group. The station airs Korean-language programming...
and KFI
KFI
KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...
Los Angeles, WMEX
WWZN
WWZN is an AM radio station licensed to serve the Boston media market. Its programming is a time-brokered mix between progressive talk radio during the daytime , sports talk and religious programming in the overnight hours...
in Boston, WNOE in New Orleans, KBOX
KBOX
KBOX is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Hits format. Licensed to Lompoc, California, USA, it serves the Santa Maria-Lompoc area. The station is currently owned by Agm-Santa Maria, Lp and features programing provided from Westwood One.-External links:*...
in Dallas, KXOL
KMNY
KMNY KMNY KMNY (1360 AM, is a radio station in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, which broadcasts on 1360 kHz and is under ownership of Multicultural Broadcasting...
in Fort Worth (under the on-air name, Jimmy Kaye, where he worked with longtime friend George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
), and WFUN
WAXY
WAXY is a radio station licensed in South Miami, Florida broadcasting on 790 kHz with a sports talk format. The station is owned by Lincoln Financial Media, which was previously known as Jefferson-Pilot Communications...
Miami. In recent years, he hosted a top rated talk show in Houston, Texas on KKTL
KTHT
KTHT 97.1 "Country Legends 97.1" is a 100,000 watt FM station licensed to Cleveland, TX, that includes service to Houston and Beaumont TX with its Classic Country format. The station is owned by Cox Radio and is co-owned with KGLK, KHPT, and KKBQ...
, and was a news anchor at KHTV Channel 39 in Houston.
Jim's father, James "Mac" MacKrell, Sr., was a radio personality on KCUL
KZMP (AM)
KZMP is a radio station that serves the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Liberman Broadcasting however it is managed and operated by The Walt Disney Company's ESPN under a local marketing agreement.-History:...
radio station in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
.
After show business
While MacKrell continues to take on voiceover projects (most recently for the movie Imps (20092009 in film
The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
)), he is basically retired and lives near Conroe, Texas
Conroe, Texas
Conroe is a suburban city 40 miles north of Houston in the gulf coastal plains/piney woods region of southeast Texas.It is the seat of Montgomery County and falls within the metropolitan area.As of the 2000 U.S...
. He is still very active and plays tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
daily.
MacKrell published his first fictional novel, Down from the Mountain: the Story of Bandit and the Wolf. According to press releases, "It is an action-packed novel as far sweeping as the big skies of Montana, where it all takes place. Jim MacKrell salutes the resolve of the American rancher and the animals that work ‘loyally’ alongside to provide the very essence of our rural way of life."