Jack Linkletter

Jack Linkletter was born on November 20, 1937 in San Francisco, California, USA as Arthur John Linkletter Jr.

As a boy, Jack provided the inspiration for his father's most famous The Linkletter Show (1952) routines: interviewing young children. Art got such a kick one day after asking Jack how his first day of kindergarten went that he played his interview with Jack on his "Who's Dancing Tonight?" Sunday-night interview show in San Francisco. Once "House Party" began, Art started interviewing four children between the ages of 4 and 10 during the last five minutes of each show, about 27,000 children over the years.

He was an actor, known for Zane Grey Theater (1956), Hootenanny (1963) and The Rebus Game (1965). He was married to Charlene Just Croul and Barbara Mae Hughes.

Linkletter was an English major at the University of Southern California in 1958 when he began hosting the NBC-TV prime-time summer-replacement quiz show Haggis Baggis (1958).

Hosted seven television shows throughout his career, including Hootenanny (1963), Here's Hollywood (1960) and America Alive! (1978). He also hosted a number of well-known special events and pageants, including the Miss Universe Pageant (1965), events for the World's Fair and many parades.

Youngest of the five children, sister Diane Linkletter, leaped to her death from a high-rise apartment window in 1969 at age 20. Her death was widely reported in the media at the time, and her father blamed her death on LSD. There is, however, no proof that Diane took LSD on the day she died. All available evidence suggests that she was a despondent woman and that her death was a suicide rather than a drug-related accident. Nevertheless, shortly thereafter, Art Linkletter became a prominent anti-drug campaigner.