Jack Linkletter (November 20, 1937 – December 18, 2007) was an American game show and television host and entertainer. He was the son of

Art Linkletter Arthur Gordon Linkletter (born Gordon Arthur Kelly or Arthur Gordon Kelly; sources differ; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of ''House Party'', which ran on CBS radio a ...

Early life

Linkletter was born Arthur Jack Linkletter in San Francisco. He was the oldest of Lois and

's five children. He was said to have been inspired to enter show business by his father's show '' House Party''. As a boy, Mr. Linkletter inspired one of his father's most famous "House Party" routines: interviewing young children. Linkletter was an English major at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 1958 when he began hosting the NBC-TV prime-time summer replacement quiz show '' Haggis Baggis''.

Career

At 15, Linkletter began doing an interview show for CBS Radio, which was soon followed in 1954 by an hour-long program featuring records and stunts called "Teen Club". Linkletter hosted seven television shows throughout his career, including ''Haggis Baggis'', '' Hootenanny'', ''On the Go'' (1958–59) and ''

Here's Hollywood ''Here's Hollywood'' is an American celebrity interview program which aired on weekday afternoons on NBC at 4:30 Eastern time from September 26, 1960, to December 28, 1962. Overview In the first season, the interviews were conducted by Dean Mille ...

''. He also hosted a number of events and

pageant Pageant may refer to: * Procession or ceremony in elaborate costume * Beauty pageant, or beauty contest * Latter Day Saint plays and pageants, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or by members local to the area of the pageant * ...

s, including the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

pageant, events for the

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

and many

parades A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of ...

. On February 23, 1961, Linkletter and his father, Art, appeared together in "The Bible Man", one of the final episodes of '' Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre,'' which aired for five seasons on CBS. In the story line, the father, the Reverend Albert Pierce, is a traveling evangelist who is estranged from his grown son, Jimmy, because he had tried to avoid telling Jimmy of the real circumstances of his mother's death. The son accused his father of causing the mother's death by burning down her house. However, she was already dead before the fire because a paramour had beaten her to death. The episode ends in a reconciliation of father and son. "The Bible Man" was Jack Linkletter's only regular acting appearance. When on television, he otherwise played himself. Linkletter's last major television role was as the main host of the daily NBC daytime talk/variety program, ''

America Alive! ''America Alive!'' was an American television talk-variety program created by Woody Fraser. The show had a brief run on NBC, which aired it as part of its weekday daytime programming schedule from July 24, 1978, until January 4, 1979. Overview ...

'' in 1978. Linkletter was president of Linkletter Enterprises, developer and operator of commercial and industrial real estate and manager of diversified family investments. He also operated the Link Fund, a private fund investing in equity and debt instruments. Linkletter served as the International President of

Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is an American-based worldwide leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries, according to the organization's 2019 YPO international fact sheet. ...

and national director of the

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times i ...

Clubs.

Death

Linkletter died of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

on December 18, 2007, at his home in Cloverdale, California. He was 70 years old. Obituary: "Jack Linkletter, Second-Generation TV Host, Dies at 70 "
''The New York Times''. December 21, 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linkletter, Jack 1937 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lymphoma Television personalities from California Deaths from cancer in California People from Cloverdale, California