Richard Alva Cavett is an American television personality and former talk show host.
39 Facts About Dick Cavett
2.
Dick Cavett appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s.
3.
Dick Cavett was born in Buffalo County, Nebraska, but sources differ as to the specific town, locating his birthplace in either Gibbon, where his family lived, or nearby Kearney, the location of the nearest hospital.
4.
Dick Cavett's paternal grandfather was from Diller, Nebraska, and his paternal grandmother was an immigrant from Aachen, Germany, which is why he speaks fluent German.
5.
Dick Cavett was elected president of the student council in high school, and was a gold medalist at the state gymnastics championship.
6.
Dick Cavett began performing magic shows for $35 a night under the tutelage of Gene Gloye.
7.
Dick Cavett took advantage of any opportunity to meet stars, routinely going to shows in New York to hang around stage doors or venture backstage.
8.
Dick Cavett would go so far as to carry a copy of Variety or an appropriate piece of company stationery in order to look inconspicuous while sneaking backstage or into a TV studio.
9.
Dick Cavett took many odd jobs ranging from store detective to label typist for a Wall Street firm, and as a copyboy at Time magazine.
10.
Dick Cavett was cast in a film by the Signal Corps, but further jobs were not forthcoming.
11.
Dick Cavett was an extra on The Phil Silvers Show in 1959, a TV remake of the film Body and Soul for the DuPont Show of the Month the same year, and Playhouse 90 in 1960.
12.
Dick Cavett briefly revived his magic act while working as a typist and as a mystery shopper in department stores.
13.
Dick Cavett was a copyboy at Time magazine when he read a newspaper item about Jack Paar, then host of The Tonight Show.
14.
Dick Cavett wrote some jokes, put them into a Time envelope, and went to the RCA Building.
15.
Dick Cavett ran into Paar in a hallway and handed him the envelope.
16.
Dick Cavett then went to sit in the studio audience.
17.
Dick Cavett wrote for Paar the famous line "Here they are, Jayne Mansfield" as an introduction for the buxom actress.
18.
Dick Cavett appeared on the show in 1961, acting as interpreter for Miss Universe of 1961, Marlene Schmidt of Germany.
19.
Dick Cavett continued with The Tonight Show as a writer after Johnny Carson assumed hosting duties.
20.
Dick Cavett began a brief career as a stand-up comic in 1964 at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village.
21.
Dick Cavett's manager was Jack Rollins, who later became the producer of nearly all of Woody Allen's films.
22.
Dick Cavett played Mr Kelly's in Chicago and Enrico Banducci's hungry i in San Francisco.
23.
Dick Cavett wrote for Merv Griffin and appeared on Griffin's talk show several times, and then on The Ed Sullivan Show.
24.
Dick Cavett has been nominated for at least 10 Emmy Awards and has won three.
25.
Dick Cavett earned a reputation as "the thinking man's talk show host" and received favorable reviews from critics.
26.
Dick Cavett's show often focused on controversial people or subjects, often pairing guests with opposing views on social or political issues, such as Jim Brown and Lester Maddox.
27.
Dick Cavett hosted many popular musicians, both in interview and performance, such as David Bowie, Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.
28.
Dick Cavett was surprised at footage from his TV show appearing in Apollo 13.
29.
Dick Cavett has appeared as himself in various other television shows, such as The Odd Couple as well as serving as a host for Saturday Night Live in 1976.
30.
Dick Cavett had a cameo role in Woody Allen's Annie Hall and he played himself in the movie Power Play.
31.
Dick Cavett hosted a documentary series for HBO in the early 1980s titled Remember When.
32.
Dick Cavett had a brief stint as the Narrator in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.
33.
Dick Cavett is featured in the 2003 documentary From the Ashes: The Life and Times of Tick Hall about the fire that destroyed his home in Montauk, New York and his effort to rebuild it.
34.
Dick Cavett was present when actor Marlon Brando broke the jaw of paparazzo photographer Ron Galella on June 12,1973.
35.
Dick Cavett subsequently came to Los Angeles to appear in a production at Theatre 40, and delighted audiences by remaining onstage after the performance and doing a 10-minute monologue.
36.
Dick Cavett has openly discussed his bouts of clinical depression, an illness that first affected him during his freshman year at Yale.
37.
Dick Cavett was the subject of a 1993 video produced by the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association called A Patient's Perspective.
38.
In 1997, Cavett was sued by producer James Moskovitz for breach of contract after failing to show up for a nationally syndicated radio program.
39.
Dick Cavett was portrayed by Erin Gann in the 8th episode of the 1st season of Minx.