| Dick Cavett  AKA Richard Alva Cavett
Born: 19-Nov-1936
Birthplace: Gibbon, NE
Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Talk Show Host Nationality: United States
Executive summary: The Dick Cavett Show After graduating from Yale, Dick Cavett worked as a store detective, an amateur actor, and a copy boy at Time Magazine. He liked Jack Paar's Tonight Show, and wrote an opening monologue for Paar, then loitered around NBC headquarters until he saw Paar, and handed it to him. Paar read Cavett's stuff, laughed, and Cavett's days as a copy boy were over. As a writer for The Tonight Show and later The Jerry Lewis Show, Cavett met and mingled with comedians, and decided he wanted to do stand-up. His nightclub act led to a daytime talk show on ABC in 1968, which quickly bombed. ABC gave him a nightly show instead, opposite his former Tonight Show co-workers, and Cavett drew highbrow guests, low ratings, and critical raves for five years. He was the intellectuals' darling -- the thinking man's Johnny Carson. He could be as funny as of the comedians of his era whose fame has far outlasted his, but Cavett's humor indulged more brain cells. After his second ABC show, Cavett had shows on PBS, USA, CNBC, and probably more, while occasionally acting -- usually playing himself -- in movies and TV sitcoms.
Cavett is manic-depressive, a condition he has dealt with since his first major depression in 1959. He started and lost a nationally syndicated radio show in 1996 in just two weeks, when depression kicked in and he simply stopped showing up. He was prescribed antidepressants, and underwent electroshock therapy in 1992.
Father: (school teacher)
Mother: (school teacher)
Wife: Carrie Nye (actress, m. 4-Jun-1964, d. 14-Jul-2006)
High School: Lincoln High School, Lincoln, NE (1954)
University: BA English and Drama, Yale University (1958)
Time
Emmy 3 times
Endorsement of Apple Apple ][, Apple /// (1981-82)
Endorsement of Teacher's Scotch Whisky 1975
Shock Treatment 1980
Polygraphed
Risk Factors: Depression, Bipolar Disorder
TELEVISION
The Dick Cavett Show (1989-96)
The Dick Cavett Show (1977-82)
The Dick Cavett Show (1969-74)
The Tonight Show Writer
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Jane Fonda in Five Acts (20-Jan-2018) · Himself
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (Jan-2018) · Himself
I Am Not Your Negro (10-Sep-2016) · Himself
Janis: Little Girl Blue (6-Sep-2015) · Himself
Excuse Me for Living (12-Oct-2012)
Woody Allen: A Documentary (30-May-2012) · Himself
Bobby Fischer Against the World (Jan-2011) · Himself
Smash His Camera (Jan-2010) · Himself
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (12-Sep-2009) · Himself
Inside Deep Throat (11-Feb-2005) · Himself
Duane Hopwood (20-Jan-2005)
Frequency (28-Apr-2000) · Himself
Elvis Meets Nixon (10-Aug-1997) · Narrator
Forrest Gump (23-Jun-1994) · Himself
Barbarians at the Gate (20-Mar-1993) · Himself
Year of the Gun (10-Sep-1991)
Imagine: John Lennon (7-Oct-1988) · Himself
Moon Over Parador (9-Sep-1988) · Himself
Beetlejuice (30-Mar-1988) · Bernard
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (27-Feb-1987) · Himself
HealtH (12-Sep-1980) · Himself
Simon (1980) · Himself
Power Play (25-Aug-1978) · Himself
Annie Hall (20-Apr-1977) · Himself
Janis (18-Oct-1974) · Himself
Cocksucker Blues (1972) · Himself
Author of books:
Cavett (1974, memoir; with Christopher Porterfield)
Eye on Cavett (1983, memoir; with Christopher Porterfield)
Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010, memoir)
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