As an actor, talk show host, game show panelist, musician, composer, author, and social commentator, Steve Allen helped define the role of television personality in the early days of the medium. No less a personage than Noel Coward dubbed Allen "the most talented man in America." An encyclopedic knowledge of a variety of subjects combined with a remarkable ability to ad-lib has made him a distinctive presence on American TV sets since the 1950s.

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen was born in New York City on December 26, 1921 to vaudeville performers Billy Allen and Belle Montrose. Allen grew up on the vaudeville circuit, attending over a dozen schools in his childhood even as he learned the essence of performing virtually through osmosis. He began his professional career as a disk jockey in 1942 while attending the University of Arizona, and worked in West Coast radio throughout...