Emmy Award-winning television host and producer dies at 81
LOS ANGELES -- Lloyd Thaxton, an Emmy Award-winning producer and host of a popular Los Angeles television dance show that went national in the 1960s, has died. He was 81.
Thaxton died of multiple myeloma Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, said his wife Barbara Thaxton.
Lloyd Thaxton was known for his comic lip-synching to rock 'n' roll songs on KCOP's "Lloyd Thaxton's Record Shop," which launched in 1959 and became a hit despite its limited budget and cardboard set. He used puppets, costumes, mime and "finger people" he drew on his thumb.
Three years later his show was revamped and renamed "Thaxton's Hop," before going national in 1964. The show was eventually renamed "The Lloyd Thaxton Show" and featured teenagers dancing to records and guest appearances by top recording artists such as Sonny and Cher and the Righteous Brothers.
He always signed off his shows by saying, "My name is Lloyd Thaxton," to which the teenage dancers would yell, "So what?"
He also worked as an Emmy Award-winning producer with the consumer advocacy program "Fight Back! With David Horowitz" and NBC's "The Today Show."