- Born
- Birth nameRichard Alva Cavett
- Height5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)
- Yale-educated Dick Cavett established his reputation as the most erudite of American talk show hosts in the late 1960s and early '70s. Although there were many contenders who took on Johnny Carson, the undisputed heavyweight champion of late-night TV, Cavett generally was considered the most successful of the pretenders to Carson's throne. There were many challengers, and Carson vanquished them all, most notably Joey Bishop, Jerry Lewis and Merv Griffin (who moved his talk show to afternoons and syndication after it was canceled by CBS in 1972 after a three-year run on the network).
Cavett's late-night talk show, The Dick Cavett Show (1968), ran on ABC, from 1968 to 1974, and then for an additional year on CBS. (He has since appeared on numerous other talk show gigs into the 21st Century.) Thought it ranked third in ratings behind Carson (perpetually #1 for all the years he headlined his own show) and Griffin in 1969-72, he was the most respected of the Carson-wannabes. Cavett was famous for attracting guests who normally did not appear on talk shows, such as Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and the post-"Godfather" Marlon Brando, who used his time on the "Dick Cavett Show" to talk about Indians rights with Native American spokespeople Cavett allowed to share Brando's forum. The reticent Brando praised Cavett for being the best.
"The King of Late Night" and the highest-paid television personality of his time, Johnny Carson eventually crushed even Dick Cavett. Ironically, Cavett was born in Nebraska and was an aspiring amateur magician, as was fellow Cornhusker Carson, for whom Cavett worked on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as a writer after having broken in to the business in a similar capacity for Jack Paar, Carson's predecessor on "The Tonight Show."
He was born Richard Alva Cavett on November 19, 1936, in Gibbon, Nebraska, the son of two educators, Erabel "Era" (Richards) and Alva Bayard Cavett. After spending his childhood in Lincoln, Nebraska, he matriculated at Yale, where he first experienced the debilitating depression caused by bipolar disorder that would plague him though his adult life. He switched his major at Yale to drama and, upon graduating, made the rounds of casting agents, as did his first wife, the actress Carrie Nye whom he married in 1964 and remained married to for 42 years, until her death.
At 5'3" tall, Cavett was too short to be a success at anything but character parts, but even those were not forthcoming. In addition to his writing for Paar and Carson (and a high-priced staff writing gig on the notoriously unsuccessful The Jerry Lewis Show (1963) in 1963, after which he returned to Carson after Lewis bombed and was canceled), Cavett launched a career as a stand-up comic, possibly influenced by Woody Allen, whom he discovered for Paar (his title on Jack Paar's "Tonight Show" was "talent coordinator").
An American treasure, Dick Cavett now writes regularly for "The New York Times." In November 2010, he had married for the second time, tying the knot with writer Martha Rogers in New Orleans.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood - Dick Cavett is an American television personality, comedian and former talk show host notable for his conversational style and in-depth discussions. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in five consecutive decades, the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cavett wrote a column for the online 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 Salvador Dalí, Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, John Lennon, Richard Burton and others on Turner Classic Movies.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tango Papa
- SpousesMartha Rogers(October 2010 - present)Carrie Nye(June 4, 1964 - July 14, 2006) (her death)
- ChildrenNo ChildrenCameron BertschSpencer Bertsch
- ParentsAlva Bayard CavettErabel Richards
- Distinctive raspy, gravelly voice
- Comb-over hairstyle
- Was an actor in army training films.
- Bilko's Godson (1959) was his first appearance on TV. During an recent interview he recalled how during a break in the shooting, he approached Phil Silvers and said, "I know there's no way you'd remember, but I saw you in ['the Broadway show] 'Top Banana' and went backstage and you gave me an autographed picture." And without a moment's hesitation Silvers replied "What's the deal, kid, you here to give it back?".
- Suffered from manic-depressive disorder, since his freshman year at Yale University.
- Was a gymnast when he was younger.
- Was a talent coordinator, and later writer, for Jack Paar's TV show. Appeared many times on talk shows as a stand-up comic.
- Anyone who steals another comic's material should be sentenced for life to reading Aristophanes to the O.J. [O.J. Simpson] jury.
- I'm perplexed when people adopt the modish abbreviation "Ms.," which doesn't abbreviate anything except common sense.
- There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?
- [on Stu Hample] He was a great appreciator of comedy. He was an extremely funny man. He could be funny in a good stand-up comedy way in your living room. or walking across the park. And he had a prodigious memory for comic literature and could quote whole routines--with the accuracy they deserved.
- [on being a talk-show host] It's a wonderful job for people who have never had a nervous breakdown and have always wanted one.
- The Merv Griffin Show (1962) - $460 / week
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