Art Linkletter Dies At Age 97

I don’t know about you, but I think this pretty much proves that laughter makes you live longer.

Art Linkletter died today at his home in Bel-Air – he was 97. A family statement said Linkletter “died peacefully at home with his family on Wednesday.”

The statement also said that when asked what he considered his greatest life accomplishment while being honored at an event last month, Art Linkletter responded simply with, “family.”

Art had two long-running shows: House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years. Linkletter was famous for interviewing children on House Party and Kids Say the Darndest Things, which led to a successful series of books quoting children. The show was was later revived with Bill Cosby hosting during the late 1990s. Of his five children, three passed away before Art did: daughter Diane, 20, jumped to her death in 1969 from a sixth-floor apartment in Hollywood, son Robert died in a 1980 auto accident, and another son, Jack, died of lymphoma in 2007. Linkletter is survived by his wife of 75 years, Lois, and two daughters, Dawn Griffin and Sharon Linkletter.

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Linkletter almost made it to 100. Bob Hope was 100 when he died, ya know. So was George Burns. Yes, there is definitely something to this laughter thing.

I’m off to the Jenne Giles Spring/Summer 2010 Collection Fashion Show At Supperclub San Francisco this evening and I really must go get ready. Pictures tomorrow! Or Friday, depending on how hung over I am tomorrow.