LOS ANGELES —
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 Health Center in Santa Monica, where he had gone the day before 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. He was 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 movies, 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 a 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. Through 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 interview, 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 with 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 email 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 that "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 also never performed, although Clark managed an on-air telephone interview while Presley was in the Army.
One of the most important TV apperances Madonna did at the start of her career was on
American Bandstand, when she famously told him that she wantedt to "rule the world". Dick became a big fan of hers, and was in fact the one responsible for her apperance on the 1985
Live Aid concert.
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 confronts 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 interests 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.
In a 1989
Times Union article, Clark spoke about “
American Bandstand”:
“I can remember the day we went on the
ABC network originally,” Clark said. “That was very exciting because we’d had a five- year history of (local) success in Philadelphia before then. There were a lot of people who were very skeptical about whether we’d succeed or not on a national level. We had said, ‘There is no doubt it will. It will, it will, it will.’ And we really believed it would. And it did.”
The show with Clark at the helm lasted for 37 years, and in that time Clark had a profound impact on popularizing pop music, and making Americans dance.
In the interview, he said, “I’m the luckiest human that ever walked the face of the Earth. I was blessed with good health and the ability to do what I only dreamed of as a child…. When the day comes for me to check out, or the Lord beckons me to go, they will say something about ‘He played the music and the kids danced.’ Or, ‘He was America’s Pied Piper.’ … One of the things I hope they will make note of is that we kept the music alive.”
"I was very sad to hear this news. We all felt Dick was always this handsome teenager, as we all got older, Dick remained a teenager. I will always appreciate what he did for me and for popular music. He presented Motown and The Supremes on tour with the Caravan of Stars and on American Bandstand where I got my start. Dick Clark was a pioneer, he was a music star maker, he was a legend and was my friend. He said that 'music is the soundtrack of your life.' Since I was 16, he was always a part of mine. My love and prayers go out to his family." —
Diana Ross.
"Even though I told him in 1984 that I wanted to rule the world, it's Dick Clark who has ruled the world. He loved what he did and his energy and enthusiasm were boundless. A great man. I bow to his memory and everything he did with his life. Rest in peace. You will be missed." -
Madonna
"Dick Clark changed the face of musical television. He was wonderful to many artists including our family. We will miss him. God bless." —
Janet Jackson
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