In the parlance of gameshow catchphrases, there is no equal. ‘Whammy’; ‘Deal or no deal’; ‘Survey says’—they all each evoke a sense of timeless nostalgia, but nothing compares to those three magic words from the longest-running gameshow in in American history.
Come. On. Down!
On November 22, 2017, Glenda Tamblyn ’83 became the latest in a long line of Auburn alumni to visit The Price is Right, fulfilling a dream that spanned a lifetime.
“You grow up with ‘The Price is Right’,” said Tamblyn from her home in Los Angeles. “Bob Barker is a household name! When I was a kid, my mom would flip the TV over to CBS for her ‘programs’ while she worked around the house. We had a craft business on the side, and we would sit and watch and sew. It would always start with the Price is Right.”
A onetime math major, Tamblyn told The Glomerata in 1983 that once she “discovered theatre, that was it.” After several prominent roles in Auburn theatrical productions, including the lead role of Lizzy Curry in “The Rainmaker,” the Fine Arts graduate found stage acting work around central Florida, “up and down I-4,” culminating with a role in the opening cast of the Universal Studios Orlando theme park.
“While I was there, I was able to work in film and television and I got a nice role in a 1991 movie called “My Girl” where I played Macaulay Culkin’s mom,” said Tamblyn. “I came out [to Los Angeles] about a year after that came out just to stick in my thumb in the water and swim with all the other fishes.”
Out in Hollywood, Tamblyn found work in various roles both in front of and behind the scenes, ranging from an actress on the show “Criminal Minds” to Principal Councillor for the Actors Equity Association’s western region. In 2000 she married Larry Tamblyn, front man for ‘60s rock pioneers The Standells, becoming the band’s manager and business administrator during national and international tours for nearly 15 years. She currently is VP and owner of This Entertainment, a video transcription company for everything from Hollywood to broadcast news.
Sharing a love of all things Auburn, the Tamblyns joined the L.A. Auburn Club, which is how they were alerted to “College Rivalry Day” on TPIR by club president Eric Dunlap ’06. Himself one of many past Auburn TPIR contestants, including Will Gaither ’04, Chase Gallimore ’06, Megan Sumners ’08 and “Sunday Night Football” host Lindsay McCormick ’10 (among others), Dunlap was asked to assemble a contingent of alumni to square off against Alabama contestants.
“I feel like the Auburn Club’s program is such a service for alumni the farther you get away from home. L.A. is such a big city, it’s really easy to feel unknown or lost and on your own,” said Dunlap, a civil engineer for Los Angeles county. “The fact that we get to provide social events and opportunities for alumni to get together is a really cool thing to get to do.”
For Tamblyn, it meant hearing Drew Carey saying her name, along with those magic words.
“As a kid, you’re always wondering what it’s like to have your name with “come on down!’” said Tamblyn. “It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime things that you always wonder what it’d be like. It just took my breath away.”