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'America's oldest teen' Dick Clark dies


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Los Angeles (CNN) -- Broadcast icon Dick Clark, the creator and longtime host of "American Bandstand," has died, publicist Paul Shefrin said. He was 82.

Clark suffered a heart attack while at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica an outpatient procedure, his publicist said. "Attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful."

Clark suffered what was then described as "a mild stroke" in December 2004, just months after announcing he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

That stroke forced Clark to cut back on his on-camera work, including giving up the hosting duties for the "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" specials. He reappeared as a co-host with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, 2005.

His "American Bandstand" work, which he began as a local TV show in Philadelphia in 1956, earned him the nickname "America's oldest living teenager." The show was picked up by ABC and broadcast nationally a year later.

Born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, New York, on November 30, 1929, he began his broadcast career working at a radio station managed by his father.

Clark, who was married three times, is survived his by current wife, two sons and a daughter.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Clark in its nonperformer category in 1993.

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We are currently (in Australia) seeing repeats of the show 'Mad About You'. Ironically, yesterdays episode was about Paul filming the 'Ball Drop' on New Years Eve. It was a night that Dick Clark took off (at the insistance of his wife). But over the end credits, Dick appears, complaining to his wife that she forced him to take the night off and telling her he's going to resurrect American Band Stand on their wedding anniversary, so that he'd be working every year on that date.

Spooky

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I did the post on a Dick Clark ABC promo for the New Year's show around September-October of 2004. Much to my surprise, "one-take Dick" had a lot of problems with the piece, which required him to walk through a room filled with dropped balloons, streamers, confetti, and so on, stopping at the camera for the final line. I turned to the promo producers and said, "wow, I can't remember a time where Dick had this many problems getting through a promo." It took about 25-30 takes to finally nail it.

It was about three months later that Dick had his stroke. I was very saddened by this, but I think the signs were definitely there. He was always a total pro on the projects we did for him at Complete Post over the years. No question, Clark could be very demanding (and cheap), plus he could be temperamental on occasion, but he also was generally very loyal and had an impeccable delivery on-air. Great voice, really good to record.

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  • 2 months later...

Just checking in and saw this post! Dancing on Bandstand was my first introduction to show biz. Danced all day ( 4 shows ) once a month for no money.....hahaha....just loved every bit of the 3 years spent dancing my touche off! Dick will be greatly missed. Thanks for the youth compliment Mike...but you had to be a teenager to hang with the ultimate teenager...geez I am old! Yikes!

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