TV personality-producer Dick Clark will spend Christmas, and perhaps New Year’s Eve, in a hospital where he’s recovering from a mild stroke, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Clark, who suffered the stroke Dec. 6, is out of the intensive care unit and “doing some rehab,” said publicist Paul Shefrin.
He will remain hospitalized through Christmas, and will be watching his annual New Year’s Eve television special either from his hospital bed or at home in Malibu, Shefrin said.
“The doctors have told him how thrilled they are with his progress,” said Shefrin, who wouldn’t give any details about the impact of the stroke or discuss whether there was paralysis.
“His brain is 100 percent there,” Shefrin said.
He said doctors hadn’t given Clark, 75, a release date yet.
“It’s been overwhelming in terms of support and well wishes,” Shefrin said of the avalanche of cards, letters and e-mails that Clark has received from friends and fans.
“There are hundreds, probably thousands, with the magic of e-mail. He’s going to have an awful lot of thank-you cards to write,” he said.
Regis Philbin will host ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2005” Dec. 31 from New York’s Times Square. Singer Ashlee Simpson will host the West Coast part of the show.
Clark went from hosting “American Bandstand,” “Bloopers” and game shows to producing awards ceremonies. He has been a television New Year’s Eve tradition for 32 years.