Art Linkletter Biography

Fast Facts

• Planning to become an English teacher, he earned his bachelor's degree from San Diego State Teachers College in 1934
• Graduated from high school at 16 and hitchhiked around the country, working as a meatpacker, a harvester and a busboy in a roadhouse
• When he was a child, he made money by sorting through lemons abandoned outside a packing plant, cleaning them and selling them for 6 cents a dozen
• Started his entertainment career as a local radio announcer and a roving broadcaster at state fairs
• Quote: "I know enough about a lot of things to be interesting, but I'm not interested enough in any one thing to be boring․"
• Quote: "You live between your ears․ You can't turn back the clock, but you can rewind it․"
• Known for his ad-libbed antics and interviews in "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and 1960s
• One of his most memorable segments was when he would interview children, prompting amusing responses which he collected in his best-selling book "Kids Say the Darndest Things!"
• His business interest ranged from oil wells to toy manufacturers
• As a child, when his family prayed and performed on street corners, he would play the triangle