LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dick Clark, the ever-youthful television host and
tireless entrepreneur who helped bring rock 'n' roll into the mainstream
on "American Bandstand," and later produced and hosted a vast range of
programming from game shows to the year-end countdown from Times Square
on "New Year's Rockin' Eve," has died. He was 82.
Spokesman Paul Shefrin said Clark had a heart attack Wednesday morning
at Saint John's hospital in Santa Monica, a day after he was admitted
for an outpatient procedure.
Clark had continued performing even after he suffered a stroke in 2004 that affected his ability to speak and walk.
Long dubbed "the world's oldest teenager" because of his boyish
appearance, Clark bridged the rebellious new music scene and traditional
show business, and equally comfortable whether chatting about music
with Sam Cooke or bantering with Ed McMahon about TV bloopers. He
thrived as the founder of Dick Clark Productions, supplying mov ies,
game and music shows, beauty contests and more to TV. Among his credits:
"The $25,000 Pyramid," ''TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" and the
American Music Awards.
For a time in the 1980s, he had shows on all three networks and was
listed among the Forbes 400 of wealthiest Americans. Clark also was part
of radio as partner in the United Stations Radio Network, which
provided programs - including Clark's - to thousands of stations.
"There's hardly any segment of the population that doesn't see what I
do," Clark told The Associated Press in a 1985 interview. "It can be
embarrassing. People come up to me and say, 'I love your show,' and I
have no idea which one they're talking about."
The original "American Bandstand" was one of network TV's
longest-running series as part of ABC's daytime lineup from 1957 to
1987. It later aired for a year in syndication and briefly on the USA
Network. Over the years, it introduced stars ranging from Buddy Holly to
Madonna . The show's status as an American cultural institution was
solidified when Clark donated Bandstand's original podium and backdrop
to the Smithsonian Institution.
Clark joined "Bandstand" in 1956 after Bob Horn, who'd been the host
since its 1952 debut, was fired. Under Clark's guidance, it went from a
local Philadelphia show to a national phenomenon.
"I played records, the kids danced, and America watched," was how Clark
once described the series' simplicity. In his 1958 hit "Sweet Little
Sixteen," Chuck Berry sang that "they'll be rocking on Bandstand,
Philadelphia, P-A."
As a host, he had the smooth delivery of a seasoned radio announcer. As a
producer, he had an ear for a hit record. He also knew how to make wary
adults welcome this odd new breed of music in their homes.
Clark endured accusations that he was in with the squares, with critic
Lester Bangs defining Bandstand as "a leggily acceptable euphemism of
the teenage experience." In a 1985 inte rview, Clark acknowledged the
complaints. "But I knew at the time that if we didn't make the
presentation to the older generation palatable, it could kill it."
"So along with Little Richard and Chuck Berry and the Platters and the
Crows and the Jayhawks ... the boys wore coats and ties and the girls
combed their hair and they all looked like sweet little kids into a high
school dance," he said.
But Clark defended pop artists and artistic freedom, the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame said in an online biography of the 1993 inductee. He helped
give black artists their due by playing original R&B recordings
instead of cover versions by white performers, and he condemned
censorship.
His stroke in December 2004 forced him to miss his annual appearance on
"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve." He returned the following year
and, although his speech at times was difficult to understand, many
praised his bravery, including other stroke victims.
Still speaking wi th difficulty, he continued taking part in his New
Year's shows, though in a diminished role. Ryan Seacrest became the main
host.
"I'm just thankful I'm still able to enjoy this once-a-year treat," he
told The Associated Press by e-mail in December 2008 as another New
Year's Eve approached.
He was honored at the Emmy Awards in 2006, telling the crowd: "I have
accomplished my childhood dream, to be in show business. Everybody
should be so lucky to have their dreams come true. I've been truly
blessed."
He was born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in 1929. His
father, Richard Augustus Clark, was a sales manager who worked in radio.
Clark idolized his athletic older brother, Bradley, who was killed in
World War II. In his 1976 autobiography, "Rock, Roll & Remember,"
Clark recalled how radio helped ease his loneliness and turned him into a
fan of Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey and other popular hosts.
From Godfrey, he said, he learned th at "a radio announcer does not talk
to 'those of you out there in radio land'; a radio announcer talks to
me as an individual."
Clark began his career in the mailroom of a Utica, N.Y., radio station
in 1945. By age 26, he was a broadcasting veteran, with nine years'
experience on radio and TV stations in Syracuse and Utica, N.Y., and
Philadelphia. He held a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University.
While in Philadelphia, Clark befriended McMahon, who later credited
Clark for introducing him to his future "Tonight Show" boss, Johnny
Carson.
In the 1960s, "American Bandstand" moved from black-and-white to color,
from weekday broadcasts to once-a-week Saturday shows and from
Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Although its influence started to ebb, it
still featured some of the biggest stars of each decade, whether Janis
Joplin, the Jackson 5, Talking Heads or Prince. But Clark never did book
two of rock's iconic groups, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Elvis
Presley a lso never performed, although Clark managed an on-air
telephone interview while Presley was in the Army.
When Michael Jackson died in June 2009, Clark recalled working with him
since he was a child, adding, "of all the thousands of entertainers I
have worked with, Michael was THE most outstanding. Many have tried and
will try to copy him, but his talent will never be matched."
Clark kept more than records spinning with his Dick Clark Productions.
Its credits included the Academy of Country Music and Golden Globe
awards; TV movies including the Emmy-winning "The Woman Who Willed a
Miracle" (1984), the "$25,000 Pyramid" game show and the 1985 film "Remo
Williams: The Adventure Begins." Clark himself made a cameo on "The
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and a dramatic appearance as a witness on the
original "Perry Mason." He was an involuntary part of Michael Moore's
Academy Award-winning "Bowling for Columbine," in which Clark is seen
brushing off Moore as the filmmaker con fronts him about working
conditions at a restaurant owned by Clark.
In 1974, at ABC's request, Clark created the American Music Awards after
the network lost the broadcast rights to the Grammy Awards.
He was also an author, with "Dick Clark's American Bandstand" and such
self-help books as "Dick Clark's Program for Success in Your Business
and Personal Life" and "Looking Great, Staying Young." His unchanging
looks inspired a joke in "Peggy Sue Gets Married," the 1986 comedy
starring Kathleen Turner as an unhappy wife and mother transported back
to 1960. Watching Clark on a black and white TV set, she shakes her head
in amazement, "Look at that man, he never ages."
Clark's clean-cut image survived a music industry scandal. In 1960,
during a congressional investigation of "payola" or bribery in the
record and radio industry, Clark was called on to testify.
He was cleared of any suspicions but was required by ABC to divest
himself of record-company intere sts to avoid any appearance of a
conflict of interest. The demand cost him $8 million, Clark once
estimated. His holdings included partial ownership of Swan Records,
which later released the first U.S. version of the Beatles' smash "She
Loves You."
In 2004, Clark announced plans for a revamped version of "American
Bandstand." The show, produced with "American Idol" creator Simon
Fuller, was to feature a host other than Clark.
He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1994 and served as spokesman for the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
Clark, twice divorced, had a son, Richard Augustus II, with first wife
Barbara Mallery and two children, Duane and Cindy, with second wife
Loretta Martin. He married Kari Wigton in 1977.
LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer
April 29th, 2012 to
May 5th, 2012
