"Sophisticated," "witty," "urbane," "intelligent," and "literate" are among the adjectives commonly used to describe Dick Cavett, the Nebraska-born talk show host who experienced fame during a relatively brief period of his early career and professional struggle thereafter. The Dick Cavett Show was seen five nights a week for seven years on ABC-TV from 1968 until 1975 and then once weekly on Public Television until 1982. Cavett won three Emmy awards during these years. His interviews with such individuals as Lawrence Olivier, Katharine Hepburn, Noel Coward, Orson Welles, Groucho Marx, and Alfred Hitchcock are classics in the field, as Cavett's lively mind allowed a degree of candor and spontaneity generally lacking in the attempts of less gifted colleagues. For many viewers, his show was the saving grace of commercial television and a good reason to stay up late.

A Yale graduate, Cavett began his career as an actor...