Charles Henry Goren (March 4, 1901 – April 3, 1991) was an American bridge player and writer who significantly developed and popularized the game. He was the leading American bridge personality in the 1950s and 1960s and widely known as "Mr. Bridge". His father emigrated in 1903 with the family possibly coming later. He earned a law degree at McGill University in Montreal in 1923. While he was attending McGill, a girlfriend (or "a young hostess")
After graduation, he practiced law for 13 years in Philadelphia.
Goren's longest partnership was with Helen Sobel, but he also famously partnered actor Omar Sharif. Sharif also wrote introductions to or co-authored several of Goren's bridge books, and was also co-author of Goren's newspaper column, eventually taking it over in collaboration with Tannah Hirsch.
The Bridge World monthly magazine, established by Ely Culbertson in 1929, named nine members to its bridge hall of fame including Goren and Culbertson between the years 1964 and 1966. In 1994, the ACBL established its hall of fame with the Bridge World nine as founding members. It named eight new members in 1995 and has inducted others annually since then.
Legacy
Goren died on April 3, 1991, in Encino, California, at the age of 90. He had lived with his nephew Marvin Goren for 19 years.
: Charles Goren Dies at 90
: He was Mr. Bridge to millions of players and readers who adopted his simplified bidding system. Page A17.
The layout for Truscott's obituary incorporates a two-column box by the staff entitled "Goren on Bridge: Counting Points", which cites New Contract Bridge in Nutshell and Encyclopædia Britannica. Its preface: "Here are the basics of the point-counting system used to bid bridge hands. Although the practice of assigning points to high cards was already in use, Charles H. Goren expanded and popularized the method, which has remained the standard point-counting system."
During the month of Goren's death, Truscott followed his obituary with a bridge column entitled, "Goren leaves behind many fans and a column with an international flavor". His business interests had been "managed by others" since his retirement "a quarter of a century ago", according to Truscott. "The Goren syndicated column now has an international flavor: It carries the bylines of the movie star Omar Sharif, an Egyptian who lives in Paris, and an entrepreneur, Tannah Hirsch, a South African who came to the United States via Israel."
- . First London edition published by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1959. Title has been reprinted numerous times to 1972.
- with Jack Olsen: . Paperback editions published by Cornerstone Library, NY in 1967 and 1970, pp. 190.
- 100 Challenging Bridge Hands
- An Entirely New Bridge Summary
- The A.B.C.'s of Contract Bridge
- Championship Bridge with Charles Goren
- Charles H. Goren's Bridge Quiz Book
- Contract Bridge Complete
- Easy Steps: Eight Steps to Winning Bridge
- The Elements of Bridge
- The Fundamental of contract Bridge
- Goren on Play and Defense: All of Play: The Technique, the Logic, and the Challenge of Master Bridge
- Goren Presents the Italian Bridge System
- Goren Settles the Bridge Arguments
- Goren's Bridge Complete
- Goren's Bridge Quizzes
- Goren's Hoyle Encyclopedia of Bridge
- Goren's New Contract Bridge Complete
- Goren's Point Count Bidding Made Easy
- Goren's Winning Partnership Bridge
- Introduction to Bridge
- Introduction to Competitive Bidding
- Modern Backgammon Complete
- Official Charles Goren Quick Reference to Winning Bridge
- Play and Defense
- Play As You Learn Bridge
- Play Bridge With Goren
- Play Winning Bridge With Any Partner: Even a Stranger
- Precision Bridge for Everyone
- The Precision System of Bidding
- Precision System of Contract Bridge Bidding: Charles H. Goren Presents
- Sports Illustrated Book of Bridge
References
External links
- Profile on bridgehands.com
- Turning Tricks: The Rise and Fall of Contract Bridge, by David Owen in The New Yorker
- Charles Goren, biography on bridgebum.com
- Charles Goren on the television program "What's My Line?"