- LOUIS: Marlin Perkins, explorer conservationist, 200 director and famed host of the “Wild Kingdom’ television series, died of cancer at his home Saturday. He was 81.
Perkins had been ill with lymph cancer for two years.
Private memorial services were scheduled for Thursday at the Church of St. Michael and St. George in Clayton, MO. The family designated the American Cancer Society or the Wolf Sanctuary in Eureka, Mo, for memorials.
Perkins cut his teeth in the animal business in the 1940’s with “Zooparade,” a program he did for 12 years for Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo and NBC. It was an immediate hit when it went on the air in 1945, and it put Perkins, a dropout from the zoology program at the University of Missouri, on the road to international fame.
NBC canceled “Zooparade” in 1957 and began broadcasting “Wild Kingdom” in 1963. The network kept “Wild Kingdom” on the air for nine years, Mutual of Omaha, the insurance company that had been its sponsor from the beginning then syndicated it.
At the height of its popularity, the show, winner of four Emmy awards, was seen on 200 stations in North America and’ in more than 40 nations.
Perkins remained the show’s host until last year when he had to curtail his activities because of his fight against lymph cancer that included chemical and radiation therapy.
But Perkins still made promotional appearances for Mutual of Omaha, where a spokesman once called him a “workhorse” for the company. Earlier this year, he began hosting “Nature Newsbreak,” a 60-second program sponsored by Mutual of Omaha and the National Wildlife Federation,
“Wild Kingdom” still is on the air and hosted by Perkins’ longtime assistant Jim Fowler,
“Zooparade” a name suggested by Perkins was the successor to “A visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo” which made its debuts when there were only 300) television sets in Chicago.
“That was live television, but the concept of ‘Wild Kingdom’ developed from ‘Zooparade’, said Perkins, who was among the first to bring 200 animals into a studio for programs.
Perkins and his crew journeyed to Africa in 1955 for their first “Zooparade” shows done on location,
Perkins realized that videotapes was the coming thing in television and that it would give him the flexibility and creativity he wanted in his shows,
“We got the concept to go on location anywhere in the world with any kind of animal,” he said of the later programs for “Zooparade,
Perkins lived with his wife, Carol, on a quiet, tree-lined street in St. Louis in a comfortable; two story brick home full of the mementos of a long career. Perkins was born March 28, 1905, in Carthage, Mo. He said he first became interested in animals while examining the insects and other creatures unearthed by plows on the family farm.
In 1926, Perkins got a job at the St. Louis Zoo under its famed director, George Vierheller. Two years later, at age 23, Perkins became the 200’s reptile curator.
He moved on the 1938 to become curator of the Buffalo Zoo logical Gardens, then became director of the Lincoln Park Zoo in 1944,
Perkins returned to the St. Louis Zoo in 1962, succeeding Vierheller. His agreement with zoo officials allowed him to divide his time between his duties in St. Louis and “Wild Kingdom.” He ‘was z00 director emeritus after 1970.
Perkins said only few injuries have occurred in the filming of “Wild Kingdom” episodes; he was ‘one of the victims.
In India for a show about elephants, and elephant driver, called a mahout, made a mistake.
“The mahout gave the order to lie down when I was directly in front of his elephant,” Perkins recalled. “I was in the way so the elephant reached out with his tusk and flicked me out of the way”
Three broken ribs, a badly split lip and other injuries were the result.
“I went to town for five days and stayed in a very nice hotel,” he said.
Perkins almost died on New Year’s Eve 1928 when he was bitten by a Gaboon viper at that. Louis Zoo, and was laid up for three weeks in Chicago in 1950 from a rattlesnake bite.
He is survived by his wife, Carol; a daughter, Suzanne Perkins of Berkely, Calif? two stepdaughters, Alice Gorta of Lake Forest, ILL; and Marguerite Sorum of Washington, D.C. a stepson, Fred Cosworth of St. Louis, and eight grandchildren.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 20, 1986
