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Vale: Art Linkletter

Art Linkletter, who delighted US viewers with his ability to get kids to say the darndest things on TV, has died aged 97.

Retired US broadcaster Art Linkletter, who delighted US viewers with his ability to get kids to say the darndest things on national television, died on Wednesday. He was 97.

He died at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles.

Linkletter had been ill ”in the last few weeks time, but bear in mind he was 97 years old. He wasn’t eating well, and the aging process took him,” his son-in-law said in a statement. .

Linkletter hadn’t been diagnosed with any life-threatening disease, he said.

Art Linkletter’s House Party, one of television’s longest-running variety shows, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS from 1952 to 1969.

”Because of Art Linkletter, adults found themselves enjoying children,” said Bill Cosby, whose style interviewing kids on his own show in the late ’90s was often compared to Linkletter’s.

”An amazing fellow, a terrific broadcast talent, a brilliant businessman. An all-around good guy,” CNN’s Larry King added about his longtime friend and frequent guest.

”In a couple of months Art Linkletter would have been 98 years old, a full life of fun and goodness, an orphan who made it to the top,” reflected Phyllis Diller. ”What a guy.”

The LA Times notes Linkletter’s shows, like many of today’s reality TV shows, often relied on ordinary people sharing too much information on national television. But his shows were far gentler than today’s often mean-spirited productions.

The format of kids saying crazy stuff is still alive today, with Nine planning to air When I Grow Up hosted by Shane Jacobson.

Source: LA Times

2 Responses

  1. The Best — he was the vanguard of tv hosts from the early days of television, as smooth and professional as they come.

    He was also excellent in the one movie he made, playing a tv quiz show host in “Champagne For Caesar” with Ronald Colman and Vincent Price–a miracle that nobody has remade that picture (one hopes they never do)

    He wrote a book on his time with the cattle ranches in Australia called “Linkletter Down Under”, pretty funny and reminds one of “They’re A Weird Mob”.

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