Dick Clark Remembered for His Love of Dogs
by Laura Cross
Published on April 19, 2012
Music and television icon Dick Clark, who passed away on April 18 at the age of 82, was a devoted dog lover.
His many dogs, often named after Top 40 hits, were daily fixtures in the Dick Clark Productions corporate offices in Burbank, Calif. The pups were free to roam the office and even knew to wait by the elevator to be let in.
“There have been several generations of dogs that go and stand by the elevator, and someone will punch the button and they get on,” Clark told HealthyPet U in a 2003 interview.
His dogs may have known to wait for the lift, but they were not necessarily perfectly behaved. John Mussman, who began his career in television at Dick Clark Productions and is now vice president of production at MTV News and Docs, fondly remembers the pups stealing food from workers during lunch hour.
“You'd always hear shouts from stolen food off people's desks during lunch hour as the dogs made their daily rounds,” Mussman wrote in a recent MTV article.
Clark and his wife Kari filled their Malibu home with animals. Their many dogs included, Mrs. Jones, a Pug, Lucille, Henry VIII, a 110-pound Weimeraner and Lucille, a Dalmatian (who was a gift from Gloria and Emilio Estevan and was named after comedienne Lucille Ball) . The couple pampered their pets with weekly baths in a special dog-sized shower and always celebrated their birthdays.
Clark, who will be best remembered as the host of "American Bandstand" and "Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve," will certainly be missed by his beloved dogs. “Everybody says when they die and go to heaven, they want to come back as a Clark dog," Clark told HealthyPet U.
