Dick Clark hospitalized
for minor stroke

LOS ANGELES - Longtime “American Bandstand” host and pop music producer Dick Clark has been hospitalized in the Los Angeles area after suffering a stroke, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“He did have a minor stroke and he’s in the hospital for that reason but he’ll be fine,” spokeswoman Amy Streibel told Reuters.

The entertainer, who went from hosting “American Bandstand” to game shows and producing awards ceremonies, is scheduled to host ABC’s “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2005” and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2005” on Dec. 31. It will be his 33rd year welcoming in the new year.

Some media outlets have reported that that the stroke means the 75-year-old Clark will miss the annual event.

But the man himself sounds hopeful, saying in a statement "The doctors tell me I should be back in the swing of things before too long so I'm hopeful to be able to make it to Times Square to help lead the country in bringing in the New Year once again."

Clark helped make rock music palatable to mainstream America with his clean cut nationally televised ”Bandstand” has been one of the country’s best-known television hosts since the show’s debut in the 1950s, and helped promote the careers of Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker.

Clark disclosed last year that he has diabetes.

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