Dick Clark became an icon of American entertainment by building must-watch television franchises. From his days as the afternoon host of American Bandstand, which 20 million teenagers tuned in to every day, to his years as host and producer of the New Year’s Eve special that bears his name and has aired for the last four decades, he was king of prime-time countdowns.
Inspired by the format of popular music rankings he helped popularize, The Daily Beast sorted through some of Clark’s career highlights to produce a top 40 list of Dick Clark’s life by the numbers.
40: Total annual presentations of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special. The first aired in December 1972.
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39: Age in 1968, the year he produced the popular exploitation films Psych Out, The Savage Seven, and Killers Three.
38: Years Clark served as permanent host of the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special.
37: Age in 1966, when he appeared in the final episode of Perry Mason, portraying a murderer.
36: Years passed since Clark published his autobiography, Rock, Roll & Remember.
35: Years he was married to his third and last wife, Kari Clark.
34: Age in 1963, when he moved to Hollywood from Philadelphia.
33: Number of music-related businesses he had ties to, which, along with the 150 partial song copyrights he held, prompted a 1959 Senate investigation for conflict of interest.
32: Consecutive years he served as host and producer of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special show.
31: Years Clark hosted the nationally aired version of American Bandstand. He started in 1956 as host when the show aired in local markets, but the first national broadcast of the show aired Aug. 5, 1957.
30: Number of series Dick Clark Productions produced, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
29: Year he was born (birthdate: Nov. 30, 1929).
28: Age in 1957, when he founded Dick Clark Productions.
27: Number of American Music Awards won by Michael Jackson, the award system created by Clark in 1979.
26: Years Dick Clark Productions produced American Bandstand.
25: Lowest score, on a scale from 25 to 98, that teenage studio guests could rate records on American Bandstand.
24: Years between American Bandstand and the premiere of MTV.
23: Number of acres his Flintstones-like modern home sits on. The house is currently on the market for $3.5 million.
22: Age when he married his first wife, high-school sweetheart Barbara Mallery.
21: Letters in his departing catchphrase, “For now, Dick Clark … so long,” delivered with a military salute.
20: Millions of viewers who tuned in to American Bandstand every day in the late ’50s and early ’60s.
19: Date in June 2007 when Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder bought Dick Clark Productions for $175 million.
18: Months Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater was closed for renovation beginning in 2007 after neighbors complained about noise.
17: Age he got his first job in the mailroom at the radio station his father managed.
16: Date in April 2004 when he appeared on Larry King Live, revealing he suffered from type 2 diabetes.
15: The hundred block of Vine Street that houses Clark’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (east side of the 1500 block).
14: Seasons various iterations of The $10,000 Pyramid game show aired, starting in 1973.
13: Age when he went to see a live radio broadcast of Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore, which inspired him to go into broadcasting.
12: Price in dollars of the grilled pork specialty entrée at Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Grill in Branson, Mo.
11: Tens of times Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon appeared on American Bandstand (110 total times).
10: Emmys won by Jeopardy, the only game show to win more Emmys than Clark’s first game show, The $10,000 Pyramid, which won nine.
9: Hundreds of hours of American Bandstand that Dick Clark Productions owner Dan Synder promised to digitize.
8: Number of times “shakin’” is repeated in Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole Lotta Shakin Goin’ On,” the first song performed on the national version of American Bandstand.
7: Lucky number for him and his third wife, Kari. They were married on 7/7/1977 at 7 p.m.
6: Most Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year Awards won by Garth Brooks. Dick Clark Productions has produced the ACMs since 1979.
5: Number of Emmys Clark won, including a Daytime Emmy lifetime achievement award, as well as the number of Halls of Fame into which he was inducted.
4: Number of Miss Universe pageants Dick Clark hosted in Wichita, Kan.
3: Number of children he had: Richard, Duane, and Cindy.
2: Years The Dick Clark Show lasted on prime-time television’s Saturday night lineup.
1: Number of times he had to testify before a congressional committee about the possible conflict of interest between his promotion of performers and investment interests in publishing and recording in 1959.
