Dick Clark: Murderer?

The passing yesterday of American TV icon Dick Clark will spawn hundreds, if not thousands of articles and blogs about his life, his impact and his lasting legacy.

I’ll resist.

After all, the life of any person is complex—and while no one can dispute Dick Clark’s contributions to American pop culture, there is always another side. For every person who praised his business acumen, there was someone else who criticized his near control-freak obsession with being personally involved with every single aspect of Dick Clark Productions and every detail of the shows it produced.

To witness his comeback from a debilitating stroke to once again appear of “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was viewed as courageous (count me in that group)—but also as further evidence that Mr. Clark simply couldn’t let go (which may also be true)

The video clip I have today is also a bit of trivia about Dick Clark, it would seem.

When we saw him, we watched the quintessential “host”----the Master of Ceremonies. It was Dick Clark who introduced us to hundreds of musical stars. It was Dick Clark who MC’d Awards Shows like his Golden Globes or hosted the $25,000 Pyramid. From game shows to variety shows, Clark’s role was that of facilitator. He was subordinate to the guests and seemed to be OK with that.

But he also acted.

Check out this scene—the final one from the last Perry Mason TV show. As Raymond Burr’s character always did, he exposed the murderer.

And that murderer was none other than Dick Clark--embedding has been disabled, but click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=U8Ptx5XiOH8&NR=1

I had the opportunity and good fortune to meet Dick Clark back in 1989 in New Orleans. My lasting impressions were two-fold:

1) He was a lot smaller physically than I imagined and
2) He looked A LOT older—even 23 years ago.

Number one is understandable—as he was—and always has been a giant to me. As for Number two, I guess I was taken into much by the moniker, “America’s oldest Teenager”

Trust me, he didn’t look like a teenager back then. But he was larger than life….

And he will be missed.

RIP, Dick Clark