Bert Parks had his first experience in amateur theatre when he was four years old.
14 Facts About Bert Parks
2.
Bert Parks graduated from Marist School, a Catholic preparatory school in Atlanta.
3.
Bert Parks entered radio broadcasting at age 16, for Atlanta's WGST.
4.
Bert Parks was the host of Break the Bank, which premiered on radio in 1945 and was telecast from 1948 to 1957, as well as Stop the Music on radio in 1948 and television from 1949 to 1952.
5.
Bert Parks helmed a daytime variety show in 1950, The Bert Parks Show.
6.
Bert Parks appeared in a 1976 episode of The Bionic Woman as the nefarious host of the "Miss United States" beauty pageant, involved in a plot to sell national security technology.
7.
The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson led an on-air campaign to get Bert Parks rehired, but was unsuccessful.
8.
In 1990, for the 70th anniversary of the Miss America pageant, Bert Parks was brought on by host Gary Collins to sing "There She Is" to the new Miss America, Marjorie Judith Vincent.
9.
Bert Parks did a take-off of his hosting role in The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick and Bruno Kirby.
10.
Bert Parks played the emcee of a Gourmet Club dinner where guests supposedly eat a Komodo dragon, singing a spoof of "There She Is" in a salute to the soon-to-be-deceased dragon.
11.
Bert Parks appeared on WKRP in Cincinnati in the 1980 episode "Herb's Dad", playing Herb Tarlek Sr.
12.
In 1988, Bert Parks appeared on an episode of 227 as himself.
13.
Bert Parks made cameos as himself in a 1990 episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Dennis Hopper, and a 1991 episode of Night Court.
14.
Bert Parks died of lung cancer at La Jolla, California, on February 2,1992, at the age of 77.