Bill Todman

Todman was born in New York City in 1916. He was originally named Wilbur Selden Todman, but later changed his name to William in honor of his late uncle. Todman was the son of a Wall Street accountant, Frederick S. Todman, CPA, whose accounting firm was known as Frederick S. Todman & Co. and for many years was located at 111 Broadway, downtown Manhattan. The firm represented some of the United States' biggest companies, including the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, Polaroid, Eastman Kodak, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Frederick S. Todman lectured in post-World War II Japan as part of that country's economic reconstruction, and wrote several quintessential books on Wall Street Accounting. Bill Todman's brother, Howard, was vice president and treasurer for Goodson-Todman Productions.

In 1941, while working on the local quiz show, The Battle of the Boroughs, he met Mark Goodson, which at that time a local radio announcer. This was soldiifed into the Goodson-Todman partnership to start the radio hit Winner Take All.