Background

Allen Albert Funt was born on September 16, 1914, in New York. He was the son of Isidore Funt, a diamond wholesaler, and Paula Saferstein Funt.

Education

Funt graduated from high school at the precocious age of 15. Too young for college and eager for a career in art, he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn before entering Cornell University, from which he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts. After graduation, he attended Columbia University School of Business Administration and then returned to Pratt for additional courses in art.

Career

Studying at the additional courses in art led Funt to a job in the art department of an advertising agency. He subsequently became a copywriter and then joined the radio department, where he found his true métier. He became a radio idea man, dreaming up gimmicks for shows.

During World War II, the Army Signal Corps put Funt and his radio experience to good use for five years. While in the service, Funt experimented with the then young art of location recording, using a wire recorder, the predecessor of today's tape recorder. The portability of the contraption led Funt to try out various concealment techniques. The happy result was Candid Microphone, which premiered on ABC Radio soon after Funt left the Army.

Funt, who never regarded himself as an actor, soon found himself playing many characters in the program - disguised as a dentist, garage mechanic or some other occupation - serving as the catalyst for unsuspecting people whose candid reactions to unusual situations were recorded. Candid Microphone soon gave birth to the television version, Candid Camera, which appeared at one time or another on all three networks and in many foreign countries. The program was an acclaimed hit on CBS-TV from 1960 to 1966.

The next two decades brought about the New Candid Camera, a weekly half-hour syndicated series that ran for over five years in the mid-70's, as well as adult versions of the popular show created for cable. During this time, Funt also produced several Candid Camera Specials for NBC and CBS. Peter Funt joined him in 1987 for the CBS specials.

Funt was also the writer of two films, and three books including Eavesdropper at Large, Candid Kids, and Candidly Allen Funt: A Million Smiles Later, which was published in 1994.

Funt moved from New York to Central California in 1978, and embarked on cattle ranching and horse breeding at his 1,100-acre Big Sur ranch, bordered on one side by the Pacific and the other by the beautiful Sierra Mountains. Often he could be found ankle-deep in sawdust making furniture or building additions to the ranch. Following a stroke in 1993, he was forced to take things easier, but still with that same Funt appreciation for life's little absurdities - and of course, still sporting a "Smile."

Achievements

• Funt is known as a popular host, producer, director, and writer for many radio programs and television specials. His trademark “Smile! You're on Candid Camera” became an American catchphrase as a result of the television show he created, produced, directed, edited, and served as host for many years.
  
  Apart from his television work, Funt wrote three books and had a brief foray into the film-making business with a movie called What Do You Say To A Naked Lady? He established a fellowship in radio and television at Syracuse University for minority students and passed on much of his archive material to Cornell University.
  
  Always a great believer in the therapeutic qualities of laughter, he established the Laughter Therapy Foundation, which provided videos of his shows for the seriously ill (and to which his family has asked people to donate after his death).

Works

More photos

• video

  • Candid Camera: Greatest Moments 2006
  • What Do You Say To A Naked Lady? 2011
  • Candid Camera: The Best of the 1960s: Vol. 2
  • Cronkite Remembers: the Early 2010
  • Candid Candid Camera: Volume 5 VHS 1993

Views

Quotations: "Smile! You're on Candid Camera."

Personality

As the creator, producer, director, and editor of Candid Camera, Funt was part humorist, part psychologist, and part con artist, catching unsuspecting people in "the act of being themselves," as he put it. From a humble start on radio in 1947, he used hidden microphones and cameras to catch unsuspecting people worldwide - all in the spirit of fun.

Funt amassed a collection of works by the Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema and engineered an exhibition of them at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art. The collection's value skyrocketed as a result, and Funt sold them at a handsome profit.

Connections

In 1946, Funt married Evelyn Michal with whom he had three children, Peter, Patricia and John. In 1964 the couple was divorced and the same year Funt married Marilyn Laron, whom he divorced in 1978. The couple had two children, Juliet and William. Funt had seven grandchildren.

Father:

Isidore Funt

Mother:

Paula Saferstein Funt

ex-wife:

Evelyn Michal

ex-wife:

Marilyn Laron

Son:

Peter Funt

Born in New York, c. 1947.

Peter Funt is an American actor, host and producer for the hit TV show Candid Camera.

Daughter:

Patricia Funt

Son:

John Funt

Daughter:

Juliet Funt

Son:

William Funt

References

• Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television Volumes 1-52
  2007
• Allen Funt Biography: Biography Books Allen Funt was an American television producer, best remembered as the creator and host of the television series ‘Candid Camera’. This biography of Allen Funt provides detailed about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.
  2019