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Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s.

In later years, Cavett has written an online column for ''The New York Times'', promoted DVDs of his former shows as well as a book of his ''Times'' columns, and hosted replays of his TV interviews with Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Salvador Dalí, Lee Marvin, Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Mitchum, John Lennon, George Harrison, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Kirk Douglas and others on Turner Classic Movies.

Early life and education

Cavett was born in Buffalo County, Nebraska, but sources differ as to the specific town, locating his birthplace in either Gibbon, where his family lived, or nearby Kearney, the location of the nearest hospital. Cavett himself has stated that Gibbon was his birthplace.

His mother, Erabel "Era" (née Richards), and his father, Alva B. Cavett, both worked as teachers. When asked by Lucille Ball on his own show about his heritage, he said he was "Scottish, Irish, English, and possibly partly French, and ... a dose of German." He also mentioned that one grandfather "came over" from England, and the other from Wales. Cavett's grandparents all lived in Grand Island, Nebraska. His paternal grandparents were Alva A. Cavett and Gertrude Pinsch. His paternal grandfather was from Diller, Nebraska, and his paternal grandmother was an immigrant from Aachen, Germany, which is why he also speaks fluent German. His maternal grandparents were the Rev. R. R. and Etta Mae Richards. The Rev. Mr. Richards was from Carmarthen, Wales, and was a Baptist minister who served parishes across central Nebraska. Cavett himself is a self-described agnostic.

Cavett's parents taught in Comstock, Gibbon, and Grand Island, where Cavett started kindergarten at Wasmer Elementary School. Three years later, both of his parents landed teaching positions in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Cavett completed his education at Capitol, Prescott, and Irving schools and Lincoln High School. When Cavett was ten, his mother died of cancer at age 36. His father subsequently married Dorcas Deland, also a teacher, originally from Alliance, Nebraska. On September 24, 1995, Lincoln Public Schools dedicated the new Dorcas C. and Alva B. Cavett Elementary School in their honor.

In eighth grade, Cavett directed a live Saturday-morning radio show sponsored by the Junior League and played the title role in ''The Winslow Boy''. One of his high-school classmates was actress Sandy Dennis. Cavett was elected president of the student council in high school, and was a gold medalist at the state gymnastics championship.

Before leaving for college, he worked as a caddie at the Lincoln Country Club. He also began performing magic shows for $35 a night under the tutelage of Gene Gloye. In 1952, Cavett attended the convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians in St. Louis, Missouri, and won the Best New Performer trophy. Around the same time, he met fellow magician Johnny Carson, 11 years his senior, who was doing a magic act at a church in Lincoln.

While attending Yale University, Cavett played in and directed dramas on the campus radio station, WYBC, and appeared in Yale drama productions. In his senior year, he changed his major from English to drama (graduating in 1958). He also took advantage of any opportunity to meet stars, routinely going to shows in New York to hang around stage doors or venture backstage. He would go so far as to carry a copy of ''Variety'' or an appropriate piece of company stationery in order to look inconspicuous while sneaking backstage or into a TV studio. Cavett took many odd jobs ranging from store detective to label typist for a Wall Street firm, and as a copyboy at ''Time'' magazine .

Career

Oregon Shakespearean Festival Association

in 1956, Cavett joined the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is based in Ashland, Oregon, for its 16th season. Cavett appeared as the Bishop of Ely and the second murderer in '' Tragedy of Richard the Third''; a page to the king in ''Love's Labor's Lost''; servant Gregory in '' The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet''; a lord in '' The Tragedy of Cymbeline''; and Quintus, son of Titus, in '' The Lamentable Tragedy''.

''The Tonight Show''

In 1960, aged 23, Cavett was living in a three-room, fifth-floor apartment on West 89th Street in Manhattan for $51 a month, equal to $ today.

He was cast in a film by the Signal Corps, but further jobs were not forthcoming. He was an extra on ''The Phil Silvers Show'' in 1959, a TV remake of the film '' Body and Soul'' for the ''DuPont Show of the Month'' the same year, and ''Playhouse 90'' ("The Hiding Place") in 1960. He briefly revived his magic act while working as a typist and as a mystery shopper in department stores. Meanwhile, his girlfriend and future wife Carrie Nye landed several Broadway roles.

Cavett was a copyboy (gofer) at ''Time'' magazine
when he read a newspaper item about Jack Paar, then host of ''The Tonight Show''. The article described Paar's concerns about his opening monologue and constant search for material. Cavett wrote some jokes, put them into a ''Time'' envelope, and went to the RCA Building. He ran into Paar in a hallway and handed him the envelope. He then went to sit in the studio audience. During the show, Paar worked in some of the lines that Cavett had fed him.

Afterward, Cavett got into an elevator with Paar, who invited him to contribute more jokes. Within weeks, Cavett was hired, originally as talent coordinator. Cavett wrote for Paar the famous line "Here they are, Jayne Mansfield" as an introduction for the buxom actress.

Cavett appeared on the show in 1961, acting as interpreter for Miss Universe of 1961, Marlene Schmidt of Germany.

While at ''Time'', Cavett wrote a letter to film comedian Arthur Jefferson, better known as Stan Laurel of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. The two soon met at Laurel's Hollywood apartment. On the evening of that first visit, Cavett wrote a tribute to him that Paar read on his show. Laurel saw the broadcast which he deeply appreciated. Cavett visited the legendary comedian several times. Their final time together came three weeks prior to Laurel's death in 1965.

In his capacity as talent coordinator for ''The Tonight Show'', Cavett was sent to the Blue Angel nightclub to see Woody Allen's act, and immediately afterward struck up a friendship. The very next day, the funeral of playwright George S. Kaufman was held at the Frank E. Campbell funeral home. Allen could not attend, but Cavett did, where he met Groucho Marx in an anteroom. From the funeral, Cavett followed Marx (who later told Cavett that Kaufman was "his personal god") three blocks up Fifth Avenue to the Plaza Hotel, where Marx invited him to lunch.

Years later, Cavett gave the introduction to Marx's one-man show ''An Evening with Groucho Marx'' at Carnegie Hall and began by saying, "I can't believe that I know Groucho Marx."

Cavett continued with ''The Tonight Show'' as a writer after Johnny Carson assumed hosting duties. For Carson he wrote the quip "Having your taste criticized by Dorothy Kilgallen is like having your clothes criticized by Emmett Kelly." Cavett appeared on the show once, to do a gymnastics routine on the pommel horse. After departing ''The Tonight Show'', Cavett wrote for Jerry Lewis's ill-fated talk show, for three times the money.

Stand-up comic

Cavett began a brief career as a stand-up comic in 1964 at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village. His manager was Jack Rollins, who later became the producer of nearly all of Woody Allen's films. One of his jokes from this period was:

He also played Mr. Kelly's in Chicago and Enrico Banducci's hungry i in San Francisco. In San Francisco, he met Lenny Bruce, about whom he said, "I liked him and wish I had known him better ... but most of what has been written about him is a waste of good ink, and his most zealous adherents and hardest-core devotees are to be avoided, even if it means working your way around the world in the hold of a goat transport."

In 1965, Cavett did some commercial voiceovers, including a series of mock interviews with Mel Brooks for Ballantine beer. In the next couple of years he appeared on game shows, including ''What's My Line''. He wrote for Merv Griffin and appeared on Griffin's talk show several times, and then on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. In the late 1960s or early 1970s, he narrated a National Association of Broadcasters PSA featuring A Boy Wandering Around a Forest.

After doing ''The Star and the Story'', a rejected television pilot with Van Johnson, Cavett hosted a special, ''Where It's At'', for Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.

In 1968, Cavett was hired by ABC to host ''This Morning''. According to a ''New Yorker'' article, the show was too sophisticated for a morning audience, and ABC first moved the show to prime time, and subsequently to a late-night slot opposite Johnny Carson's ''The Tonight Show''.

''The Dick Cavett Show''

Intermittently since 1968, Cavett has been host of his own talk show, in various formats and on various television and radio networks:
* ABC (1968–1974)
* CBS (1975)
* PBS (1977–1982)
* USA Network (1985–1986)
* Olympia Broadcasting (syndicated radio show, 1985–1989)
* ABC (1986–1987)
* CNBC (1989–1996)
* Turner Classic Movies (2006–2007)

Cavett has been nominated for at least 10 Emmy Awards and has won three. In 1970, he co-hosted the Emmy Awards Show (from Carnegie Hall in New York) with Bill Cosby (from Century Plaza in Los Angeles). His most popular talk show was his ABC program, which ran from 1969 to 1974. From 1962 to 1992, ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was arguably the most popular late-night variety and talk show. Unlike many contemporary shows that attempted to compete with Carson in the same timeslot but were quickly cancelled, Cavett managed to remain on the air for five years despite ABC being a smaller network with fewer affiliates than NBC at the time.

Cavett earned a reputation as "the thinking man's talk show host" and received favorable reviews from critics. As a talk show host, Cavett has been noted for his ability to listen to his guests and engage them in intellectual conversation. Clive James

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