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Dick Clark Filmography
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Dick Clark: Career
Dick Clark was born in Mount Vernon, New York. Clark's career in show business began in 1945 when he started working in the mailroom of radio station WRUN in Utica, New York (which was owned by his uncle and managed by his father). Clark was soon promoted to weatherman and news announcer. Clark graduated from Syracuse University in 1951 and began his television career at station WKTV in Utica. Clark's first television hosting job was on "Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders", a country music program.
In 1952, Clark moved to Philadelphia and took a job as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL. WFIL had an affiliated television station with the same call sign which began broadcasting a show called
Bob Horn's Bandstand in 1952. Clark was a regular substitute host on the show and when Horn left, Clark became the full time host on July 9, 1956. The show was picked up by ABC and was first aired nationally on August 5, 1957 and renamed American Bandstand. The show was a major success, running daily until 1963, then weekly until 1987.
Clark produced
Bandstand for syndication and later the USA cable network until 1989, giving up the hosting reins to David Hirsch in its final year.
Clark began investing in the music publishing and recording business in the 1950s. In 1959, the United States Senate opened investigations into "payola", the practice of music producing companies paying broadcasting companies to favor their product. Clark, as a major figure in both fields, was investigated and testified before Congress in 1960. Clark was not charged with any illegal activities but he was required by ABC to divest his publishing and recording interests.
On November 22 1963 Clark was in Dallas, Texas. As President John F. Kennedy was driven by Clark's hotel room, Clark waved at the president. (Clark was not in Dealey Plaza during the assassination of President Kennedy)
Clark has been involved in a number of other television series and specials as producer and performer. In 1972, he produced and hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the first of a ongoing series of specials still broadcast on New Year's Eve.
After two brief runs as a quiz-show host, Clark hit the jackpot with The $10,000 Pyramid, which premiered on CBS March 26 1973. The show—a word association game created and produced by daytime TV legend Bob Stewart—moved to ABC from 1974 to 1980, during which time the top prize was upgraded to $20,000. After a brief 1981 syndicated run as
The $50,000 Pyramid, the show returned to CBS in 1982 as
The $25,000 Pyramid, and continued through 1988, save for a three month break.
From 1985 to 1988, Clark hosted both the CBS
$25,000 version and a daily $100,000 Pyramid in syndication.
Clark's daytime version of
Pyramid won a record nine Emmy Awards for best game show, a mark it currently shares with the Alex Trebek version of Jeopardy!.
The 1973-81
Pyramids meant a cross-country commute for Clark. Except for a brief stretch in fall 1973, the show was based in New York and Clark was based in southern California. But by this time Clark established himself as a producer/host comfortable with hard work, a trait that is as much his trademark as his signature signoff
For now, Dick Clark... so long. accompanied by a salute.
In 1984, Clark produced and hosted the NBC series TV Bloopers & Practical Jokes which ran through 1988 and continues in specials hosted by Clark (first on NBC, now on ABC) to the present day.
Clark also produces the current television series American Dreams about a Philadelphia family in the early 1960s whose daughter is a regular on
American Bandstand. Clark also created and produces the annual American Music Awards.
On December 8 2004, Dick Clark was hospitalized in Los Angeles after suffering a minor stroke. Clark's spokeswoman, Amy Streibel said that he was hospitalized but was expected to be fine. However, on December 13 it was announced that, for the first time, Clark would not be able to host his annual New Year's Eve broadcast;
Regis Philbin was announced as the substitute host.
This was only the second time Dick Clark was unable to host his annual New Year's Eve broadcast. The other time was in 1999, due to "ABC 2000 Today," which Peter Jennings hosted. However, Clark was a correspondent during the broadcast. It has also been revealed that Clark has Type 2 diabetes.
Clark has been married three times. His first marriage was to Barbara Mallery in 1952; the couple had one son, Richard Jr., and divorced in 1961. Clark married Loretta Martin in 1962; the couple had two children, Duane and Cindy, and divorced in 1971. Clark has been married to his current wife, Kari Wigton, since 1977.
Clark received Emmy awards in 1979, 1983, 1985, and 1986 and the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. He is an inductee at the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1976), the Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993), and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame (1993).
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LiteratureNew DVD documentary on Arthur Lee: "Love Story"
When I think of the peak concert attending experiences of my life, two of the top ten shows were Arthur Lee and Love. In the early 90s, I saw a pre-jail Arthur do a nearly all-acoustic set at a small bar in North Hollywood because the electricity went out. He made up for the loss of the band with inspired skat singing and the audience left the show grinning from ear to ear. The second time I saw Lee play was even more memorable. After spending 5-1/2 years in prison, Lee was released and began a tentative series of gigs around Los Angeles playing Love's classic 1967 album "Forever Changes" in its entirety. When he walked onstage that night, at a packed Henry Fonda Theater, he looked tiny, frail, old, scared even. His clothes looked too big. Everyone was pulling for him, we all wanted this to be amazing and triumphant, but it didn't look promising. Within seconds, however, he strapped on his hollow body electric guitar and became the great Arthur Lee. It was a magical musical event. Lee's voice had lost none of its beauty and range; the songs none of their power. Audience members were moved to tears. Yes, it was that good (and thanks to the Internets, here's a clip from that very night's highlight, "You Set the Scene"). Now, two years after his untimely death, there is a new feature-length documentary, Love Story that tells the tragic trajectory of the life and times of Arthur Lee. It's a great film and thank the gods that someone got Lee on video talking about his life's work before he died. The dramatic power of Lee's story hasn't been diminished from constant retelling on Vh1 rock docs and "Love Story" is gripping from start to finish. Mostly it focuses on the band's first three records, especially "Forever Changes." And of course it also covers Lee's notoriously difficult personality and the drug use that split the band wide-open. The only criticism I have of "Love Story" is that there isn't more footage of Lee and and the band in their prime, but it's not like the filmmakers had much of an option as there is virtually no footage of Love that exists from that era save for this wonderful clip of them on Dick Clark's American Bandstand performing a blistering version of Burt Bacharach's "My Little Red Book." Arthur Lee and Jimi Hendrix "Everlasting First" unreleased demo Love Story DVD documentary...
Published: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:48:24 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the article
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