The David Susskind Show

The David Susskind Show was free form talk show hosted by television pioneer Susskind from 1958 until his death in 1987. Susskind began the program locally in New York City and true to its original name, Open End, it would run late nights from 11 PM until the topics of the episode, or the guests, were exhausted. In 1961, it was reigned in to two hours for national syndication and ran under its original title until changed to the David Susskind Show in 1967. Susskinds's most famous interview from these early years was with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1960 at the height of the Cold War. With an often abrasive personality, Susskind was verbally attacked on his show by the actress Bette Davis as well as physically threatened by actor Tony Curtis for calling him a "passionate amoeba". Other notable guests in the show's history include Harry S. Truman, Robert F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Susskind's show was often controversial in its time for the taboo subject matter it tackled including the civil rights movement, abortion and drug culture. Susskind died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 66. MORE