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Factsheet

• Was hired as a page by NBC in 1955 and put into the sales program, selling TelePrompTers.
• Worked backstage at American Bandstand (which filmed in his hometown of Philadelphia) as a network watchdog to ensure Dick Clark wasn't receiving any payola.
• First wife Lyn Levy was the daughter of one of the founders of CBS and the niece of CBS president William S. Paley.
• Wrote "Palisades Park," recorded by Freddy Cannon, which hit the top 10 in 1962.
• Formed Chuck Barris Productions in 1965, creating shows like The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game.
• Released his supposed autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, in 1984, which detailed his alleged secret life as a CIA assassin.
• Had part of a lung removed after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000.
• Published Della: A Memoir of My Daughter in 2010 to help cope with the loss of his only child, who died in 1998.