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Arthur Gordon Linkletter (born Gordon Arthur Kelly or Arthur Gordon Kelly; sources differ; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, which aired on NBC radio and television for 19 years. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1942.
Old clips from Linkletter's House Party program were later featured as segments on the first incarnation of Kids Say the Darndest Things. A series of books followed which contained the humorous comments made on-air by children. He appeared in four films.
When he was five his family moved to San Diego, California, where he graduated from San Diego High School at age 16. During the early years of the Great Depression he rode trains around the country doing odd jobs and meeting a wide variety of people. In 1934 he earned a bachelor's degree in teaching from San Diego State Teachers College (now San Diego State University), where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. While attending San Diego State he played for the basketball team and was a member of the swimming team. He had previously planned to attend Springfield College, but did not for financial reasons.
In 1935, he met Lois Foerster. They were married at Grace Lutheran Church in San Diego, November 28, 1935. Their marriage lasted until Linkletter's death, 74 years later.
Linkletter declined the opportunity offered by his friend Walt Disney to invest in the Disneyland theme park project, along with building and operating the Disneyland Hotel, due to Linkletter's doubts about the park's prospects. But, out of friendship for Disney, Linkletter volunteered his experience as a live program broadcaster to help organize ABC's coverage of the Disneyland opening in 1955 on what was his 43rd birthday. Besides being an on-air host, he recruited his two co-hosts: Ronald Reagan and Bob Cummings. The park opening experience convinced Linkletter that Disneyland was going to be a huge success. When Disney asked what he could do to show his gratitude for the broadcast's role in the successful launching of the park, Linkletter asked for Disneyland's camera and film concession for its first ten years, a request that was quickly granted. This turned out to be extremely lucrative. The "E" Ticket #40 (2003)
In the 1950s, Linkletter hosted a 15-minute series for syndication titled Art Linkletter and the Kids, seen locally on Saturday mornings in some areas.
On February 23, 1961, Linkletter and his son Jack Linkletter appeared together in "The Bible Man," one of the last episodes of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, which aired for five seasons on CBS. In the storyline, Linkletter is cast as the Reverend Albert Pierce, a traveling evangelist who is estranged from his grown son, Jimmy (Jack Linkletter), because he had tried to avoid telling Jimmy of the real circumstances of the death of Jimmy's mother. The son accused his father of causing the mother's death by burning down her house. However, she was already dead before the fire because a paramour had beaten her to death. The episode ends with the reconciliation of father and son. "The Bible Man" was Jack Linkletter's only dramatic acting appearance. It was the first of two dramatic television appearances by Art Linkletter. His second appearance came in episode 15, season 6 of the series Wagon Train in 1962 alongside Nancy Reagan. When on television, he otherwise played himself.
Linkletter appeared for two stints of two weeks each as a guest host of The Tonight Show in 1962 between Jack Paar's sudden departure and Johnny Carson's arrival as its new host.
After three public meetings in 1967, an eight-member Los Angeles City Council committee cleared Linkletter and City Council Member Tom Shepard of charges that they were linked in a scheme to influence city purchase of the "financially troubled" Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills.Erwin Baker, "Probe Clears Councilman and Linkletter". Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1967, page 3.
In 1988, he appeared as himself on the syndicated sitcom Small Wonder in the episode "Come Fly With Me." At one point he was a spokesman for National Home Life, an insurance company.
In 1978, he wrote the foreword to the bestselling self-help book Release Your Brakes! by James W. Newman, in which he wrote, "I believe none of us should ever stop growing, learning, changing, and being curious about what's going to happen next. None of us is perfect, so we should be eager to learn more and try to be more effective persons in every part of our lives."
In 2005, at the age of 93, he opened the Happiest Homecoming on Earth celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. Half a century earlier, he had been the commentator on the opening day celebrations in 1955. For this, he was named a Disney Legend.
On October 4, 1969, 20-year-old Diane died after jumping out of her sixth-floor kitchen window. Linkletter claimed that her death was drug-related because she was on, or having a LSD flashback from, an LSD trip (toxicology tests later determined there were no drugs in Diane's system at the time of her death). After Diane's death, Linkletter spoke out against drugs to prevent children from straying into a drug habit. On October 24, 1969, he said "Anybody who has said anything which would encourage my daughter to take LSD was unwittingly a part of being her murderer." His record, "We Love You, Call Collect", recorded before her death, featured a discussion about permissiveness in modern society, along with a rebuttal by Diane, titled "Dear Mom and Dad". The record won a 1970 Grammy Award for the "Best Spoken Word Recording".
Son Robert Linkletter died in an automobile accident on September 12, 1980. Obituary: "Robert Linkletter" The New York Times. September 13, 1980 Another son, Jack Linkletter, died from lymphoma in 2007. Obituary: "Jack Linkletter, Second-Generation TV Host, Dies at 70", The New York Times, December 21, 2007.
In early 2008, Linkletter suffered a mild stroke. He died on May 26, 2010, at age 97 at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.
After his death, Phyllis Diller stated, "In a couple of months Art Linkletter would have been 98 years old, a full life of fun and goodness, an orphan who made it to the top. What a guy."
| 1946 | People Are Funny | Master of Ceremonies | Film debut |
| 1950 | Champagne for Caesar | Happy Hogan | |
| 1957 | The Snow Queen | Himself – English Prologue | |
| 1960 | No Greater Love | Final film |
| 1942–1960 | People are Funny | Himself | NBC Radio & Television Game Show |
| 1945–1967 | House Party | Himself | CBS Radio & Television |
| 1950 | Life with Linkletter | Himself | |
| 1955 | The Jack Benny Program | Himself | Episode: "Peggy King & Art Linkletter" |
| The Christophers | |||
| 1957 | Mr. Broadway | TV movie | |
| 1957–1962 | General Electric Theater | Various Roles | |
| 1961 | Zane Grey Theatre | Reverend Albert Pierce | Episode: "The Bible Man" |
| 1962 | The Danny Thomas Show | Himself | Episode: "A Promise Is a Promise" |
| Wagon Train | Sam Darland | Episode: "The Sam Darland Story" | |
| 1967 | Batman | Himself | Episode: "Catwoman Goes to College" |
| 1968 | The Red Skelton Hour | Hobo | Episode: "Love Is an Itch You Can't Scratch" |
| 1970 | Here's Lucy | Himself | Episode: "Lucy Loses Her Cool" |
| 1997–2000 | Kids Say the Darndest Things | Executive Producer | |
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