Dick Clark

Dick Clark was the man behind the game show "Pyramid" and the annual "New Year's Rockin' Eve". Born on November 30, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York as Richard Augustus Wagstaff Clark, Jr., he died on April 18, 2012 of a heart attack following a medical procedure. He was survived by his third wife Kari Wigton, whom he married on July 7, 1977. His first wife was Barbara Mallery to whom he married from 1952 to 1961. The couple had one son; Richard Augustus Clark III ("R.A.", or "Rac"). He married his second wife, Loretta Martin in 1962.They had two children; Duane and Cindy, and divorced in 1971.

A 10-year-old Clark decided to pursue a career in radio and thus began working on his career early on. He first worked in the mailroom at AM radio station WRUN in Rome, New York, that was owned by his uncle and managed by his father. After few minor jobs in the station, he was billed to host the country music program "Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders" at the television station WKTV and later on replaced Robert Earle as a newscaster.

His hosting career experienced a rapid rise after he was recruited as the permanent host of music-performance show "Bandstand", replacing its original host Bob Horn. The show, which was later renamed into "American Bandstand" after being picked by ABC, became a hit among viewers with Clark himself became everyone's favorite. By 1958, he had his own musical variety show, dubbed "The Dick Clark Show", which helped introduce many artists to their first nationwide exposure. Beginning from late 1960s, he was well known for hosting game shows, one most famous was "The $10,000 Pyramid".

In 1972, Clark created New Year's Eve music special for NBC dubbed "New Year's Rockin' Eve". As time went by, the feature became very popular and was renamed into "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve". Refusing to slow down, he continued creating several other radio and TV programs. One of the projects he created that lasted until nowadays was the annual American Music Awards (AMAs).