Steve Allen

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. Though he got his start in radio, he is best known for his extensive network television career.

Allen gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. In 1954, he achieved further national fame as the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show, which was the first late-night nationwide television talk show. He then went on to host numerous game and variety shows, including his own The Steve Allen Show, I've Got a Secret, and The New Steve Allen Show. He was a regular panel member on CBS's What's My Line? and, from 1977 until 1981, he wrote, produced, and hosted the award-winning public broadcasting show Meeting of Minds, a series of historical dramas presented in a talk format.

Allen was a pianist and a prolific composer. By his own estimate, he wrote more than 8,500 songs, some of which were recorded by numerous leading singers. Allen won the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition for "Gravy Waltz," for which he wrote the lyrics. He also wrote more than 50 books, including novels, children's books, and books of opinions, including his final book, Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch Radio (2001).

In 1996, Allen was presented with the Martin Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP). He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and The Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood named in his honor.

Allen was born in New York City, the only child of Billy Allen (né Carroll Abler), of German ancestry, and Belle Montrose (born Isabelle Donohue), a husband-and-wife vaudeville comedy team. His birth name was Stephen Valentine Allen, but he later acquired two additional names, Patrick and William, during his childhood. He got the middle name Valentine from vaudeville actor, Val Stanton who was a close friend of the family. His father died when he was an infant. Allen was raised on the South Side of Chicago largely by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle called Allen's mother "the funniest woman in vaudeville."

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.