Cast & creator
David Susskind
Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, Saturday Night Live
David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond the scope of others of the day. His first job after the war was as a press agent for Warner Brothers. Next, he was a talent agent for Century Artists, ultimately ending up in the Music Corporation of America's newly minted television programming department, managing Dinah Shore, Jerry Lewis, and others. In New York, Susskind formed Talent Associates, representing creators of material rather than performers. In 1954, Susskind became a producer of the NBC legal drama Justice, based on case files of the Legal Aid Society of New York. His program Open End began in 1958 on New York City's commercial independent station WNTA-TV and was so titled because the program continued until Susskind or his guests were too tired to continue. In 1961, Open End was constrained to two hours and went into national syndication. The show was retitled The David Susskind Show for its telecast on Sunday night, October 2, 1966. In the 1960s it was the first nationally broadcast television talk show to feature people speaking out against American involvement in the Vietnam War. In the 1970s it was the first nationally broadcast television talk show to feature people speaking out for gay rights. The show continued until its New York outlet canceled it in 1986. During his close to three-decade run, Susskind covered many controversial topics of the day, such as race relations, transsexualism, and the Vietnam War. His interview with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, which aired in October 1960, during the height of the Cold War, generated national attention. It is one of the very few talk show telecasts from the era that was preserved and can be viewed today. In a now notorious interview with then 25-year-old Muhammad Ali during a recently-unearthed 1968 appearance on the British program The Eamonn Andrews Show, Susskind displayed an intense antipathy and vitriol towards the famous boxer, whom he excoriated with withering criticism for refusing to be conscripted into the U.S. military for the Vietnam War. Some commentators have described this as a racist attack. Susskind was also a noted producer, with scores of movies, plays, and TV programs to his credit. His legacy is that of a producer of intelligent material at a time when TV had left its golden years behind and had firmly planted its feet in programming which had wide appeal, whether or not it was worth watching.
82
film credits
24
television credits
19
1950–2020 · acting roles
7.1
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (106)
Showing 106 of 106 credits
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
Saturday Night Live
Self (uncredited)
1975
The Merv Griffin Show
Self
1962
What's My Line?
Self
1950
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
1968
Alice
Producer
1976
Armstrong Circle Theatre
Producer
1950
DuPont Show of the Month
Producer
1957
The Phil Donahue Show
Self
1967
Play of the Week
Producer
1959CBS Playhouse
Producer
1966
The David Susskind Show
Self - Host
1959
Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine
Cameo
1962Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine
Himself
1962
N.Y.P.D.
Creator
1967
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Producer
1951Hallmark Hall of Fame
Executive Producer
1951
Blind Ambition
Executive Producer
1979
East Side/West Side
Producer
1963
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Producer
1974
On Our Own
Executive Producer
1977
Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II
Executive Producer
1978
Fort Apache, the Bronx
Executive Producer
1981
A Raisin in the Sun
On-screen Trailer Narrator (uncredited)
1961A Raisin in the Sun
Producer
1961
Eleanor and Franklin
Executive Producer
1976
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
Executive Producer
1976
Edge of the City
Producer
1957Mr. Broadway
Producer
1964
Requiem for a Heavyweight
Self - Trailor Narrator (uncredited)
1962Requiem for a Heavyweight
Producer
1962
The Bunker
Producer
1981
Lovers and Other Strangers
Producer
1970
Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
Executive Producer
1977
Meet Me in St. Louis
Producer
1959
Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess
Executive Producer
1983Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess
Producer
1983Crown Matrimonial
Producer
1974
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
Self (archive footage)
2013
Harvey
Producer
1972
The Pursuit of Happiness
Producer
1971
Casey Stengel
Executive Producer
1981Ike
Executive Producer
1986
Death of a Salesman
Producer
1966
The Diary of Anne Frank
Producer
1967Too Young to Go Steady
Producer
1959
Crisis at Central High
Executive Producer
1981
World of Darkness
Executive Producer
1977J.F.K.: A One-Man Show
Executive Producer
1984Dear Liar
Executive Producer
1981
Who'll Save Our Children?
Executive Producer
1978Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Executive Producer
1977
Dial M for Murder
Producer
1967
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
Executive Producer
1980
A Hatful of Rain
Producer
1968
The Power and the Glory
Producer
1963
Of Mice and Men
Executive Producer
1968
Miracle On 34th Street
Producer
1959
Eagle in a Cage
Producer
1965
Medea
Producer
1959Ninotchka
Producer
1960
Tell Me My Name
Executive Producer
1977
All the Way Home
Producer
1971
The Plutonium Incident
Producer
1980Howard Hughes: the Watergate Connection
Director
1973
Simon
Himself
1980
Loving Couples
Executive Producer
1980
If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band
Producer
1972
Three Plays by Tennessee Williams
Executive Producer
1958
The Glass Menagerie
Producer
1973
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Producer
1975
Walking Through the Fire
Executive Producer
1979At the Drop of a Hat
Producer
1962
Hedda Gabler
Producer
1962
Sex and the Single Parent
Executive Producer
1979
The Country Girl
Producer
1974
The Moon and Sixpence
Producer
1959
Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking
Producer
1976
The World Beyond
Executive Producer
1978
Transplant
Executive Producer
1979
David Susskind Archive: Interview With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
himself
1963David Susskind Archive: Interview With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Director
1963
Tom and Joann
Executive Producer
1978
Back to Back
Producer
1959
The Family Man
Executive Producer
1979
The David Susskind Show: Give 'em Hell Harry
Self
2012The Carol Lawrence Show
Self
1970
David Susskind Archive: Gay Rights Pro and Con
Director
The Desperate Hours
Executive Producer
1967
Father Figure
Executive Producer
1980
Home to Stay
Executive Producer
1978
Laura
Executive Producer
1968The Lost Apple
Producer
1962
The Winslow Boy
Producer
1958
Breaking Up
Executive Producer
1978
Fear on Trial
Self
1975
The Price
Producer
1971
David Susskind Archive: I Was a Hitman for the Mafia
Director
2020
Mark Twain Tonight!
Producer
1967
Mrs. Miniver
Producer
1960
Johnny Belinda
Producer
1967
The Human Voice
Producer
1966David Susskind Archive: Truman Capote Tells All
David Susskind Archive: Truman Capote Tells All
Director
The Glass Menagerie
Producer
1966