Born on 1st May, 1918 Jack Paar was one of the most experienced and talented personalities we have ever had on TV. He was born in Canton, Ohio but he and his family move to Jackson when he was small. He did not study for a long time and left it incomplete when he was just 16 years old. Even today after 6 years of his demise he is known for the exceptional talent and humor he possessed in his days. His death in 2004 upset the entire television fraternity and left all of them in grief. Jack was an extremely emotional and poignant person. He was most of the time unpredictable and his acts many times shocked the other person.
Jack is remembered for his fabulous acts on his show 'The Tonight Show'. But before he finally got this show he used to work at radio stations. He was a popular Radio jockey and announcer in his times but attracted many controversies as well. His first job was at WIBM in Jackson as a Radio announcer. He then grabbed the next opportunity and became the Disc Jockey at many mid west radio stations like WJR, WIRE, WGAR and WBEN. One of his most famous radio programs was the 'War of the Worlds' which was aired at WGAR station over the networks of
CBS.
His spectacular work even during the World War 2 made him famous and RKO Radio Pictures decided to hire him to host their show 'Variety Time' in the year 1948. RKO radio pictures after being impressed with his work in the past hired him again for hosting another show 'Footlight Varieties'. Jack Paar was also seen in a few movies like in 'Love Nest' which was released in 1951. After giving a couple of hit shows at
NBC and
ABC Jack decided to go back to Radio and do things he is exceptionally good at. In 1950 he made a come back to Radio for hosting 'The $64 Question'. Around the same time he hosted two game shows - Up To Paar (1952) and Bank on the Stars (1953). He also appeared as a comic actor on a show The Ed Sullivan Show.
One show that changed his life completely was 'The Tonight Show'.
NBC game Jack the biggest break of his life and this show made him very popular and in demand. In 1973 he worked on a late night show on
ABC. Jack has married twice. He died after a prolonged period of serious illness in the year 2004.
