1. Allen Albert Funt was an American television producer, director, writer and television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials.
Allen Funt's father, Isidore Funt, was a diamond wholesaler, and his mother was Paula Saferstein Funt.
Allen Funt later earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Cornell University, studied business administration at Columbia University, and returned to Pratt for additional art instruction.
Allen Funt began his signature program on ABC Radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28,1947, and it ran until September 23,1948.
Allen Funt soon experimented with a visual version by making a series of one-reel theatrical short films for Columbia Pictures.
The Candid Microphone shorts continued to play in theaters through 1956 and were reissued in the 1960s when Allen Funt became a major television personality.
Allen Funt was acknowledged as the program's creator and offered color commentary on the action.
Allen Funt was succeeded by TV host and announcer Durward Kirby, with former Your Hit Parade vocalist Dorothy Collins on hand when a woman was needed to pull off a stunt.
Allen Funt became so synonymous with Candid Camera that whenever he appeared on other TV shows, his own show was always referenced.
Free from the restrictions of broadcast television, with Standards and Practices executives telling him what he could not show on television, Allen Funt decided to pursue an idea that could not possibly be shown on television.
Allen Funt had always personified playfully mischievous stunts and good, clean fun, and now he was making X-rated movies.
Allen Funt returned to network television in 1974, when ABC broadcast a Candid Camera retrospective but did not sponsor a series.
Allen Funt was now the full-fledged host, and his co-hosts included John Bartholomew Tucker, Phyllis George, Jo Ann Pflug, Betsy Palmer, and Fannie Flagg.
In 1982 Allen Funt returned to the racier, nude-models version of the format, offering an adult-oriented series called Candid Candid Camera.
Allen Funt established a foundation that used laughter therapy for seriously ill patients by providing videocassettes of Candid Camera episodes.
In 1946, Allen Funt married Evelyn Michal, with whom he had three children, including Peter Allen Funt.
In 1964, the couple divorced, and the same year Allen Funt married Marilyn Laron, whom he was divorced in 1978.
Some passengers, having spotted Allen Funt, believed the whole thing was a Candid Camera stunt.
Allen Funt repeatedly attempted to persuade them the hijacking was real, to no avail.
Allen Funt died in 1999 in Pebble Beach, California, 11 days before his 85th birthday.