Steve Allen

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen was born on December 26, 1921, in New York City, the only child of Billy Allen and Belle Montrose, a husband-and-wife vaudeville comedy team. His father died when Allen was an infant, and he was raised on the South Side of Chicago primarily by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle described his mother as the funniest woman in vaudeville. Allen's birth name was Stephen Valentine Allen; the additional middle names Patrick and William were acquired during childhood, with Valentine coming from vaudeville actor Val Stanton, a close family friend. He ran away from home at age 16.

Allen attended Arizona State Teachers College, now Arizona State University, in Tempe, leaving while a sophomore. His first radio position was at station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1943 he enlisted in the United States Army, trained as an infantryman, and was stationed at Camp Roberts, California. Frequent asthma attacks led to a medical discharge after five months of service, after which he returned to Phoenix before relocating to California.

His broadcasting career began in earnest when he became an announcer at radio station KFAC in Los Angeles. He subsequently moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, where he hosted the five-nights-a-week comedy program Smile Time, co-starring Wendell Noble. After joining CBS Radio's KNX in Los Angeles, his format evolved from a music-and-talk half-hour into an hour-long late-night program that drew standing-room-only studio audiences. In 1950 he hosted a summer replacement show for Our Miss Brooks, placing him before a national audience for the first time.

Allen's television career began in 1949 when he answered an advertisement for a wrestling announcer, a role in which he began ad-libbing comedically during matches. CBS television subsequently groomed him for national stardom, and The Steve Allen Show premiered on Christmas Day, 1950, at 11 a.m. before moving to an early evening slot. The show required him to relocate from Los Angeles to New York with his family and ran until 1952. In early January 1951, Allen gained significant national attention when he was called in at the last minute to guest host Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts after Godfrey was unable to appear, delivering a comedic performance with one of Godfrey's live commercials that drew wide praise from audiences and critics alike.

In the first months of 1953, Allen briefly hosted the ABC talent-competition program Talent Patrol. That same year he became a regular panelist on CBS's What's My Line?, initially substituting for the suspended Hal Block in January 1953 and formally replacing him by March. He continued on the program through 1954 and returned frequently as a panelist until the series concluded in 1967. On June 19, 1966, he appeared as a contestant, and the panel failed to identify his occupation, which was selling motorcycles; Allen was at that time co-owner of a Los Angeles Honda motorcycle dealership. He is also credited with reviving and popularizing the question "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" on the show.

Also in 1953, Allen appeared on Broadway, with credits including the comedy Sophie and The Pink Elephant. He was originally from New York, New York, and in addition to performing, he worked as a book writer for Broadway productions.

In July 1953, Allen created a late-night talk and variety program on local New York station WNBT-TV. On September 27, 1954, the show expanded to the full NBC network as The Tonight Show, with radio personality Gene Rayburn serving as the original announcer. The program ran from 11:15 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the East Coast and is recognized as the first late-night nationwide television talk show. Allen pioneered comedic man-on-the-street interviews and audience-participation segments that became standard elements of late-night television. In June 1956, NBC gave Allen a prime-time Sunday night variety hour, also called The Steve Allen Show, with the network's stated goal of competing against CBS's top-rated Ed Sullivan Show.

Allen went on to host numerous additional television programs, including I've Got a Secret and The New Steve Allen Show. From 1977 to 1981, he wrote, produced, and hosted the public broadcasting series Meeting of Minds, a program of historical dramas presented in a talk-show format that earned awards during its run.

A pianist and prolific composer, Allen estimated that he wrote more than 8,500 songs over the course of his career, many of which were recorded by prominent singers. In 1964 he won the Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition for "Gravy Waltz," for which he wrote the lyrics. He also authored more than 50 books across multiple genres, including novels, children's books, and books of opinion. His final book, Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch Radio, was published in 2001. In 1996, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry presented Allen with the Martin Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and The Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood bears his name. Allen died on October 30, 2000.