Elfrida von Nardroff dead at 96: Controversial winner of ‘fixed’ quiz show Twenty-One passes away
CONTROVERSIAL quiz show winner Elfrida von Nardroff died on November 11 in a hospice in Westhampton Beach, New York. Elfrida, who is known for winning a “fixed” quiz show called Twenty-One, suffered from a stroke, her niece Elizabeth von Nardroff said. The disgraced show star — who passed away at the age of 96 — […]
CONTROVERSIAL quiz show winner Elfrida von Nardroff died on November 11 in a hospice in Westhampton Beach, New York.
Elfrida, who is known for winning a “fixed” quiz show called Twenty-One, suffered from a stroke, her niece Elizabeth von Nardroff said.
The disgraced show star — who passed away at the age of 96 — won more money than anyone else on the show.
She defeated one opponent after the other to win $220,500, which is $2.1million in modern-day dollars.
However, she later pleaded guilty to lying to a grand jury in Manhattan about receiving questions and answers before she appeared on Twenty-One.
Elfrida gained publicity as newspapers and magazines reported about her progress on the quiz show after she won $20,000, according to The New York Times.
When she won up to $146,000, Time magazine wrote: “Neither scholar, mnemonic freak nor gambler.
“Elfrida has hit the top in what is still the most demanding and sophisticated of all quiz shows.”
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After Elfrida eventually lost on the show when she got a question about Hermann Göring, a Nazi leader who committed suicide.
She later wrote an article in This Week with Leslie Lieber and claimed to have done a lot of studying to qualify as a contested on the quiz show.
Elfrida said: “I devoured almanacs, drowned myself in a sea of encyclopedias, spun globes and pored over atlases.
“I haunted the New York Public Library to such an extent that one day a librarian asked me if I was triplets.
“I was completely determined to run the full circle of knowledge in a matter of months.”
A Time article shared in 1958 dubbed Elfrida as the “lady with all the answers.”
Elfrida was born in Northhampton, Massachusetts, on July 3, 1925.
Her dad Robert was a physics professor and her mom, Elizabeth (Smith) von Nardroff, was a drama teacher and actress.
Elfrida died at East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quogue.
She lived in Manhattan until 1991, before she moved to Orient, New York.
By 2003, she became a resident of East Quogue.
Elfrida — a graduate of Dwight School in Englewood, NJ, Duke University, and Columbia University Graduate School —”cared deeply for animals” and “maintained a lifelong interest in human rights and women’s rights,” according to The Suffolk Times.
She is survived by her niece, Elizabeth von Nardroff, and her grandniece, Anja.
Both Elizabeth and Anja reside in England.
