Herb Stempel, RIP

Herbert Stempel.

Herbert Stempel passed away at age 93 on April 7th. He had been a contestant on the quiz show Twenty-One and helped blow the whistle on rigged TV game shows of the 1950's.

Charles Van Doren, who replaced Stempel as star contestant on the show, died last year on April 9th, almost one year to the day, also at age 93.

Stempel was played by John Turturro in the movie Quiz Show (1994).

From Variety:

After the scandal, Stempel became a high school social studies teacher in New York and later worked for the New York City Department of Transportation. He assisted in a 1992 documentary about the scandal for the PBS series “American Experience” and was a paid consultant on “Quiz Show,” which also starred Ralph Fiennes as Van Doren. Stempel made a cameo appearance in “Quiz Show,” portraying a different contestant being interviewed by a congressional investigator, portrayed by Rob Morrow.

Charles Van Doren (right). "It's silly and distressing to think that people don't have more faith in quiz shows."