James was born in Dearborn, Michigan, to Russian immigrants (fluent in Russian, he taught English to Russian immigrants). He attended Wayne State University in nearby Detroit, where he studied engineering. He worked as an announcer for the Armed Forces Network while stationed in Germany after World War II.\n', '

An old Army friend, who was an executive with NBC, asked James to audition for a new game show, Concentration, hosted by Hugh Downs, which needed an announcer. Concentration ran from 1958–73, and was NBC\'s longest-running game show. He went on to either announce or host over a dozen game shows, including Say When!!, It\'s Academic, The Who, What, or Where Game, Pay Cards!, Temptation, The Joker\'s Wild, Blank Check, The Magnificent Marble Machine, Classic Concentration, Family Feud, Catchphrase, and Tic-Tac-Dough. He made an appearance in Kevin Smith\'s movie Mallrats.\n', '

He started Art James Productions in 1975 with his business partner and producer, Dan Cross. Their joint company staged game shows that were specially created to communicate marketing and corporate strategies to key stake holders of Fortune 500 companies.\n', '

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