Sonny Fox, Beloved Wonderama Host, Dies at 95
Natalie Oganesyan, provided by
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Sonny Fox, the beloved kids television host who connected with children on the New York-based Sunday morning program “Wonderama,” died Sunday in Los Angeles of coronavirus-related pneumonia, his website confirmed. He was 95.
Fox hosted “Wonderama” for four hours every Sunday, and the show was celebrated for the way it engaged children, featuring everything from cartoons to games that kids could play along with at home. In 1959, Fox was hired to replace Bill Britten and Doris Faye as the host of “Wonderama” on the Metromedia station WNEW-TV, Channel 5 in New York.
Courtesy Everett Collection
A POW during World War II, he also emceed the game show The $64,000 Challenge and produced Tom Snyder s Tomorrow.
Sonny Fox, the beloved pioneer of kids television who demonstrated an amazing one-on-one rapport with children as the host of the New York-based Sunday morning program
Wonderama, has died. He was 95.
Fox died Sunday of pneumonia induced by COVID-19 in a hospital in Encino, his daughter, Meredith Fox, told
The Hollywood Reporter.
A native of Brooklyn who was a prisoner of war during World War II, Fox also served as a wartime correspondent for the Voice of America; emceed game shows like