Rayburn was born in Christopher, Illinois, the younger of two children of Croatian immigrants Mary A. Hikec (August 14, 1897 – April 29, 1985) and Peter Pero Jeljenić (January 17, 1887 – December 26, 1918).

[7] Breaking into television as the original announcer on Steve Allen's Tonight, Rayburn began a long association with game show producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman in 1953.

[citation needed] In an uncredited role (he reportedly did not want his name to appear), Rayburn played a TV interviewer in the movie It Happened to Jane (1959) starring Doris Day.

In the original version, which aired from New York on NBC, Rayburn read questions to two panels, each consisting of a celebrity and two audience members.

Writer Dick DeBartolo, a veteran of the original show, created funnier and often risqué questions ("After being hit by a steamroller, Norman had to slide his ____________ under the door.

")[citation needed] Rayburn reveled in this freewheeling new approach and often indulged in funny voices, banter with the celebrities, and mock arguments with the technical crew.

The daytime revival of Match Game, which featured regular panelists Richard Dawson, Brett Somers, and Charles Nelson Reilly, ran until 1979 on CBS and another three years in first-run syndication.

Three years after the original Match Game was canceled, Rayburn hosted the short-lived Heatter-Quigley Productions show The Amateur's Guide to Love.

Rayburn appeared as a contestant during a tournament of game show hosts on the original version of Card Sharks in 1980 and was a celebrity guest on Password Plus several times between 1980 and 1982.

[citation needed] Just before production was to begin on a new Rayburn-emceed Match Game revival in 1987,[10] an Entertainment Tonight reporter publicly disclosed that Rayburn was 69 years old, much older than many believed.

[9] Rayburn portrayed himself on a Saturday Night Live sketch in 1990, which featured Susan Lucci (as her character from All My Children, Erica Kane).

He returned as one of Kane's many previous husbands, to stop another marriage (officiated by his old Choose Up Sides co-star Don Pardo) with the host of a game show portrayed by Phil Hartman.

[citation needed] Rayburn co-hosted—with his wife and Peter Emmons—the Drum Corps International finals of the DCI Championship for two years, which were telecast on PBS from Philadelphia's Franklin Field in 1976 and Denver's original Mile High Stadium in 1977.

Rayburn was also concerned that human overpopulation would become a problem in the 21st century and that it would become more difficult to supply resources such as food if the population grew too large.

He expressed these concerns when he appeared on Game Show Hosts week on Card Sharks in 1980, where he played for Planned Parenthood as his favorite charity.

Mark Goodson presented him with a needlepoint kit on the air as a gift when Match Game became the number one show on daytime television.

Though in poor health and suffering from dementia,[9] Rayburn appeared in person to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.