Sir David Frost
David Frost with George and John, 1967.
The legendary British broadcaster Sir David Frost succumbed to an apparent heart attack at 74 this week-end.
He hosted That Was the Week That Was (known as TW3), a show that ran from 1962 to 1963 in Britain and 1964 through 1965 in the US.
It was followed by The Frost Report, which ran from 1966 to 1967. It was notable for launching the television comedy careers of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett (later, The Two Ronnies) as well as a pre-Python John Cleese.
Frost hosted members of the Beatles numerous times, beginning with Paul on his own in 1964; John and George together in 1967; John with Yoko in 1968, 1969 and 1972; Ringo in 1970.
Frost continued to interview his friend Paul McCartney occasionally throughout the decades.
His airing of the “Hey Jude” / “Revolution” clips in 1968 – promos produced with set-ups to appear as though they were actually guesting his show – remain the most iconic.
For the last few years, Frost was producing his interviews for Al Jazeera. Here he is, interviewing Paul McCartney in 2012.
After the Frost Report, David Frost hosted a syndicated daily talk show that ran on US TV, mostly in daytime slots. I believe the late jazz pianist Billy Taylor led the band. I remember seeing John Lennon (and, if memory serves, Yoko Ono alongside him) on one of the programs from circa 1969-70. At one point, Frost played a few seconds from one of their more challenging records, and essentially asked his guests, just what the heck is this stuff? It didn't help that he played their album selection from a portable phonograph right on the set, which made for poor sound quality.