**** Clark dies at age 83

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http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2012/04/19/bandstand-host-helped-popularize-rock-n-roll.html

By Lynn Elber

ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday April 19, 2012 6:42 AM

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ShareThis LOS ANGELES — **** Clark, the ever-youthful TV host who helped bring rock ’n’ roll into the mainstream on American Bandstand, and later produced and hosted programming from game shows to the year-end countdown from Times Square on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, has died. He was 82.

Clark had a heart attack yesterday morning at Saint John’s hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., a day after he was admitted for an outpatient procedure, a spokesman said.

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 in the 1950s bridged the rebellious rock-music scene and traditional showbiz. He later thrived as the founder of **** Clark Productions, supplying movies, game and music shows, beauty contests and more for television. Among his credits: The $25,000 Pyramid, TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes and the American Music Awards.

For a time during the 1980s, he had shows on all three networks and was listed among the Forbes 400 of wealthiest Americans. Clark was also part of radio as partner in the United Stations Radio Networks, 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 said in 1985.

The original American Bandstand was one of network television’s longest-running series as part of the ABC 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.

Clark joined Bandstand in 1956. Under his guidance, it went from a Philadelphia show to a national phenomenon.

“I played records, the kids danced, and America watched,” was how Clark once described the series’ simplicity.

His calm demeanor and wholesome appearance reassured parents wary of the new music.

Clark was a defender of 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 white cover versions, and he condemned censorship.

His stroke in December 2004 forced him to miss his annual appearance on **** Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. He returned the next year and, although his speech at times was difficult to understand, many, including other stroke victims, praised his bravery. He continued taking part in the shows in a

diminished role as Ryan Seacrest became the main host.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend **** Clark,” Seacrest said yesterday. “He has truly been one of the greatest influences in my life. I idolized him from the start . . . We will all miss him.”

Clark was born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Nov. 30, 1929. His father, Richard Augustus Clark, was a sales manager who worked in radio.

Clark began his career in the mailroom of a Utica, N.Y., radio station in 1945. By age 26, he already had nine years’ experience on radio and TV stations in Syracuse and Utica, N.Y., and in Philadelphia. He had a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University.

In 1974, at ABC’s request, Clark created the American Music Awards after the network lost the broadcast rights to the Grammys.

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.