How much was Steve Allen worth?
| Net Worth: | $18 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional TV Personality |
| Date of Birth: | December 26, 1921 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.9 m |
About Steve Allen
With an estimated net worth of $18 million, Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Steve Allen, who was born in New York City the day after Christmas, would go on to create The Tonight Show, the most well-known late-night talk show in history. He would essentially invent the genre that we are familiar with today, relegating it to the background of a longer humor and entertainment career.
The late-night chat show presenter, whose full name is Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen, is the son of a well-known vaudeville comic; his mother is Belle Montrose (real name, Isabelle Donohue Allen). Allen relocated to Chicago at a young age to live with his mother’s family.
Early Years
He was a student at Arizona State University in Phoenix when it was still known as Arizona State Teachers College, but he left after his second year. He accepted a position in radio in Phoenix, Arizona, but World War II ended his early career.
Allen enlisted but was never deployed; he later moved back to Phoenix. After catching up, he packed his things and headed further west, to California, before settling down.
TV Time
Allen landed a job as a radio announcer quite fast (a big deal back then, when TV was still very much in its infancy). He developed the Smile Time comic sketch show, which quickly gained popularity, and moved it from the Mutual Broadcasting System to CBS Radio, where it eventually gained national syndication.
His later career as a talk show host benefited from the basis laid by Smile Time. Allen’s eccentric monologues, celebrity interviews, comedic sketches, and audience engagement all made up the hour-long program, which featured many of the elements present in today’s most popular late-night talk programs.
Allen worked as a wrestling announcer for his first television job. His claim to fame was developing various pro wrestling techniques and retaining the rights to their catchphrases. However, the wrestling program was discontinued after only a short while.
Which was fine since CBS, the station that broadcast his well-liked radio show, was prepared to introduce Allen to primetime television.
The Steve Allen Show debuted in 1950. After two years, it was canceled with only little success. However, it paved the way for Allen’s eventual transition into the late hours. Allen had to go from Los Angeles to New York in order to have a nationally broadcast show, which he did.
THE TODAY SHOW
Before switching from CBS to NBC, Allen made a number of guest appearances after The Steve Allen Show was canceled on other shows including game shows. There, he toyed with the notion of creating a late-night variety show with elements similar to the success he had with Smile Time, such as witty monologues, famous guests, comic sketches, and audience participation.
The Tonight Show was created with the help of creator Sylvester “Pat” Weaver after NBC approved of the concept.
Allen hosted the show’s debut on September 27, 1954, at 11:15 a.m., and Gene Rayburn served as the announcer. Rayburn would go on to become famous as the storied Match Game host.
Much of the genre we still see now was developed by Allen during his three-year tenure on Tonight. Even though the program was a hit, Allen was ultimately persuaded to leave by the chance to host a primetime program in its place.
A Promising Career
The Steve Allen Show, Allen’s new program, competed against the wildly successful Ed Sullivan Show and succeeded. The program included musical performances, comedy segments, variety acts, and celebrity appearances. Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Abbott and Costello, and other celebrities were present. Don Knotts and Tom Poston, famous for The Andy Griffith Show and Newhart, respectively, were among his regular pool of comedic actors.
Allen continued to broadcast Tonight three nights a week while also hosting his Sunday night live program. The other nights were hosted by a guest host named Ernie Kovacs. But he eventually stepped down from Tonight in 1957 to focus on his evening show.
Quick facts
- Numerous well-known artists, including Perry Como, Margaret Whiting, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Les Brown, and Gloria Lyne have recorded a number of the thousands of songs that Allen, a prolific composer, has written.
- Allen has received a Grammy. For best jazz composition, he won in 1963.
- More than 50 books have been written by him.
- The Steve Allen Theater is a theater in Hollywood that carries his name.
- Allen has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, more than 50 novels to his credit, and a theater in Hollywood called The Steve Allen Theater.
- From 1962 to 1964, he hosted a late-night talk program with the same name as Tonight. He famously contacted Johnny Carson when he was on broadcast while pretending to be a TV repairman.
- The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry honored Allen with the Martin Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.
- Allen had four children, two Hollywood Walk of Fame stars, and two wives.
- After a minor vehicle accident, Allen passed away in 2000 after a severe heart attack. Allen left the scene of the collision without realizing that an artery had ruptured. He passed away during a snooze later that day. Steve Allen had an estimated $18 million in wealth at the time of his passing in 2000. In addition to a Hollywood theater named in his honor, Allen has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
