A rich biography of one of the most important cultural figures of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s—maverick television producer and talk show host David Susskind  A flamboyant impresario who began his career as an agent, David Susskind helped define a fledgling television industry. He was a provocateur who fought to bring high-toned literary works to TV. His series East Side/West Side and N.Y.P.D. broke the color barrier in casting and brought gritty, urban realism to prime time. He indulged his passion for issues and ideas with his long running discussion program, first called Open End and then The David Susskind Show, where guests could come from The White House one week and a whore house the next. The groundbreaking program made news year in and year out. His legendary live interview with Nikita Khrushchev at the height of the Cold War inflamed both the political and media establishments. Susskind was an enfant terrible whose life—both on and off the screen—makes fascinating reading. His rough edges, appetite for women, and scorn for the business side of his profession often left his own career hanging by a thread. Through extensive original reporting and deep access to David Susskind’s personal papers, family members and former associates, Stephen Battaglio creates a vivid portrait of a go-go era in American media. David Susskind is as much a biography of an expansive and glamorous time in the television business as it is the life of one of its most colorful and important players. "The strength of 'David Susskind: A Televised Life,' Stephen Battaglio's thoroughly researched book, is its sense of history...Susskind comes through, one of television's loudest, most provocative lions." --The New York Times "...the media impresario Stephen Battaglio depicts in 'David Susskind: A Televised Life' goes far beyond anything a scriptwriter might imagine...Battaglio has given us a well-researched and highly readable biography." --The National Post "...a fascinating biography that covers both Mr. Susskind's life and the history of early television." --King Features Syndicate "This enjoyable biography of the media swashbuckler of the 50s through the 70s kind of reads like a thriller too, the high velocity business kind." --Sullivan County Democrat "Stephen Battaglio's new biography, 'David Susskind: A Televised Life,' makes the case for remembering an impresario who brought a brash exuberance to the rough-and-tumble of ideas and social issues." --The Jewish Daily Forward STEPHEN BATTAGLIO is the business editor for TV Guide Magazine. He has covered the television industry since 1989, for New York Daily News and The Hollywood Reporter, among other publications. He lives in New York City. 1 David Susskind was dressed in his navy lieutenant's uniform when, in the winter of 1947, he showed up at the Manhattan headquarters of the talent agency Century Artists. He stood at a compact five feet seven inches tall. He once described his face as resembling “a bankrupt Dana Andrews,” the film actor who played the alienated World War II veteran in The Best Years of Our Lives. Susskind had a large head, with thick, wavy brown hair on top. His complexion was smooth, and his skin milky white, as if it had never been exposed to sunlight. Susskind had become a familiar figure in waiting areas of the East Fifty-seventh Street office. He had made several appointments for job interviews with Dick Dorso, the dapper president of the company that represented such stars as Judy Holliday, Ethel Merman, and the Andrews Sisters at a time when radio was still the primary source for home entertainment, although not for much longer. Susskind finally made it through Dorso's door when another partner at the firm, Al Levy, had noticed how the young man kept showing up. Levy told Dorso that anyone with that much perseverance deserved a look. Once he had an audience, Susskind launched into the details of his education at Harvard, his record of service during World War II, and his stints as a publicity agent for two movie studios. As Susskind summed up his story, he leaned that large head across Dorso's desk and fixed his intense blue eyes on him. His voice took on urgency as he said, “Now at this point, I should be able to stand up and say to you that I can bring clients here—Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Greta Garbo. I can't. I don't have a client. All I have is myself. But I think it's awfully good.” Dorso had seen and heard many agency job aspirants, but never anyone with the intensity Susskind had on that day. “He made the best pitch I've ever had made to me,” Dorso recalled. “Most people come in and say, ‘I love show business and I want to be in it, and if you have anything here that I can do, I would love to do it.’ Those are the pitches that you get. And his was totally different. He said it so forcefully, so clearly, and so imaginatively.” Dorso hired Susskind as a junior agent for $85 a week. As he would prove over his caree