A career spanning six decades
1929: Born Richard Wagstaff Clark on Nov. 30 to radio station manager Richard Augustus Clark and Julia Fuller in Mount Vernon, N.Y.
1947: Graduates in May from A.B. Davis High School and gets his first on-air opportunity filling in for a sick weatherman at his father’s station, WRUN.
1951: Graduates from Syracuse University, parlaying college DJ experience into a weekend gig at a local country station, adopting the name “Dick Clay.”
1952-61: Upon graduation, marries his high school sweetheart, Barbara Mallery; son Richard Jr. is born Jan. 9, 1957, four years before their divorce.
1952:
Relocates to Philadelphia to work for WFIL radio and TV, sometimes filling in for host Bob Horn on Bandstand, a teenage dance show.
1956: After Horn’s departure from WFIL in July, Clark takes the reins, persuades ABC to try the show nationally and changes the title to American Bandstand. Twenty million viewers tune in, and even his signoff becomes legendary: “For now, Dick Clark . . . So long,” capped with a military salute.
1957:
Within his first year, Clark breaks new ground with AfricanAmerican artists such as Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker and helps launch the careers of black-inspired white performers such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly.
1959:
Clark becomes embroiled in the federal investigation into payola, the practice of bribing DJS to play certain artists. At ABC’S insistence, Clark divests his musical properties, and American Bandstand resumes unscathed.
1962:
Clark marries his second wife, Loretta Martin. The couple have two children before divorcing in 1971.
1973-88:
Hosts The $10,000 Pyramid, a game-show concept that is spun off many times with everescalating dollar amounts.
1973:
One of Clark’s best-known properties, the American Music Awards, premieres as a competitor to the Grammys.
1976:
Publishes his autobiography, Rock, Roll & Remember, a title later recycled on his radio show; receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1977:
Marries for the third and final time, to Kari Wigton, on July 7. 1979:
Wins his first Daytime Emmy for hosting The New $25,000 Pyramid. He would go on to win three more.
1984:
Begins co-hosting TV’S Bloopers & Practical Jokes with his friend and former neighbor Ed Mcmahon. 1990:
Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. 1993:
Inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame, as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer.
2002-05:
Produces the NBC period drama American Dreams, starring Brittany Snow as a girl who’s a regular on American Bandstand.
2004:
Regis Philbin is the New Year’s substitute when Clark has a stroke in December; Ryan Seacrest joins the next year.
2010:
Clark is moved to tears at the Daytime Emmy Awards, where he is honored by Seacrest and other stars with a recap of his decades of work.