Art Linkletter

He hosted two of the longest-running programs in broadcast history and was a presence in American media for more than six decades. “Art Linkletter’s House Party,” a variety show, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS television from 1952 to 1969, and “People Are Funny”, which he helmed on radio from 1943 and on NBC television from 1954 to 1960. He received two Emmy Awards and four nominations for his achievements. The Canadian-born Linkletter was famed for his easy charm and ability to coax revealing comments from his interview subjects, especially children, which led to his popular “House Party” segment “Kids Say The Darndest Things”. He collected the kids’ choicest quotes in a best-selling book, one of 23 he wrote over the years. In 1969, following the suicide of his 20 year-old daughter Diane, he became a staunch anti-drug advocate, serving on President Richard Nixon’s National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse Prevention and lecturing frequently on the subject. During the 1980s he was a member of President Ronald Reagan’s Commission on Fitness and Physical Education, and he remained active as both a businessman and a public figure well into his 90s. He received honorary degrees from ten United States universities. Linkletter was married to Lois Foerster from 1935 until his death, and outlived three of his five children. One son, Robert, died in an automobile accident in 1980, and another son, Jack died from lymphoma in 2007. For his accomplishments in radio and television, he was honored with two separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.