Richard Alva Cavett (born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cavett has written an online column for The New York Times, promoted DVDs of his former shows as well as a book of his Times columns, and hosted replays of his TV interviews with Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Salvador Dalí, Lee Marvin, Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Mitchum, John Lennon, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Kirk Douglas and others on Turner Classic Movies.

KNOWN FOR

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2020
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1967
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2018
The Simpsons
1995
Saturday Night Live
1983
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2006
The Merv Griffin Show
1965
Cheers
1983
Late Night with David Letterman
1985
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
Gossip Girl
2012

FILMOGRAPHY

All
Movies
TV
Acting
160
Writing
1
2026
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
as Self - Talk Show Host
2025
One to One: John & Yoko
as Self (archive footage)
2025
From Darkness to Light
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2025
SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
as Self
2025
The New Yorker at 100
as Self (archive footage)
2025
John Candy: I Like Me
as Self - Host, The Dick Cavett Show (archive footage)
2025
NASA, Nazis and the Space Race
as Self (archive footage)
2024
From Roger Moore with Love
as Self
2024
Jim Henson Idea Man
as Self (archive footage)
2024
An American Family at 50
as Self
2024
Group Therapy
as Self - Host, The Dick Cavett Show (archive footage)
2024
Remembering Gene Wilder
as Self (archive footage)
2023
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story
as Self (archive footage)
2023
Godard Cinema
as Self (archive footage)
2023
Godard by Godard
as Self (archive footage)
2023
Paul Newman: The Restless
as Self (archive footage)
2022
Lucy and Desi
as Self (archive footage)
2022
The Ghost of Richard Harris
as Self
2022
Moonage Daydream
as Self (archive footage)
2022
2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
as Self (archive footage)
2022
Groucho & Cavett
as Self
2022
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
as Self (archive footage)
2022
Joni Mitchell, Lady Blue
as Self (archive footage)
2021
Live at Mister Kelly's
as Self
2021
The Capote Tapes
as Self
2021
Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation
as Self - TV Host (archive footage)
2021
Boulevard! A Hollywood Story
as Self (archive footage)
2021
My Guest is Orson Welles
2021
The Story of Late Night
as Self
2021
1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything
as Self (archive footage)
2020
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self - Guest
2019
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
as Self (archive footage)
2019
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
as Self
2019
Mike Wallace Is Here
as (archive footage)
2019
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
as Self (archive footage)
2019
Alan Pakula: Going for Truth
as Self
2019
Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
as Self - TV Host (archive footage)
2019
What's My Name | Muhammad Ali
as Self (archive footage)
2018
Bergman: A Year in a Life
as Self
2018
Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes
as Self
2018
Nureyev
as Self, Archive Footage
2018
Late Night with Seth Meyers
as Self
2017
On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone
2017
This Is Bob Hope...
as Self
2017
Stewart & Mitchum: The Two Faces of America
as Self
2017
Kyoko
as Self (archive footage)
2016
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone
as Self
2016
Childrens Hospital
as Dick Cavett
2015
Best of Enemies
as Self
2015
Janis: Little Girl Blue
as Himself
2015
Listen to Me Marlon
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2015
Dick Cavett's Vietnam
2014
River of Fundament
as Wake Guest
2014
A Venue For The End Of The World
as Himself
2014
James Brown - The Man, The Music & The Message
as Self
2014
Dick Cavett's Watergate
as Himself
2014
Katharine Hepburn: The Great Kate
as Self - Chat-Show Host
2014
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
as Self - Guest
2013
David Bowie: Five Years
as Self (archive footage)
2013
Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin'
as Self - TV Host (archive footage)
2013
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
as Self (archive footage)
2012
Norman Mailer: The American
as Self
2012
Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay
as Narrator
2012
Driving Me Crazy
as Mr. Johnson
2012
Excuse Me for Living
as Reverend Pilatus
2012
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel
as Self (archive footage)
2012
Gossip Girl
as Self
2012
Celebrity Ghost Stories
as Self
2011
Woody Allen: A Documentary
as Self
2011
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
as Self
2011
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
as Self (archive footage)
2010
Smash His Camera
as Self
2010
Simon & Garfunkel: Across the Airwaves
as Self
2010
Unforgettable
as Self
2008
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
as Self (archive footage)
2007
To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore
as Self
2007
Tension: Who's Guilty Now?
as Self
2007
Decoy: A Map to Nowhere
as Self
2007
Where Danger Lives: White Rose for Julie
2007
Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe
as Self (archive footage)
2006
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
as Self
2006
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
as Self (archive footage)
2006
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
as Self - Guest
2005
Duane Hopwood
2005
Frontier University Dreams
as Narrator
2005
Inside Deep Throat
as Self
2004
Celsius 41.11
as Self (archive footage)
2003
The Education of Gore Vidal
as Self (archive footage)
2003
Jack Paar: Smart Television
as Self
2001
Bravo Profiles: Penn and Teller
as Self
2000
Behind the Seams
as Detective
2000
Once Upon a Sleigh Ride: The Music & Life of Leon Anderson
as Narrator
2000
Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy
as Self (archive footage)
2000
Frequency
as Himself
1999
Sell & Spin: A History of Advertising
as Narrator
1997
Elvis Meets Nixon
as Narrator
1995
The Simpsons
as Dick Cavett (voice)
1994
Forrest Gump
as Dick Cavett
1994
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
as Self (archive footage)
1993
Barbarians at the Gate
as Self
1991
The One, the Only... Groucho
as Self
1991
Year of the Gun
as Ben Gershon
1991
The Fred Astaire Songbook
as Self (archive footage)
1990
Night of 100 Stars III
as Self
1990
Robert Redford & Sydney Pollack: The Men and Their Movies
as Self
1990
Spy Magazine Presents How to Be Famous
as Self
1988
Moon Over Parador
as Self
1988
Funny
as Self
1988
After School
as Himself
1988
Beetlejuice
as Bernard
1987
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
as Dick Cavett
1987
Penn & Teller's Invisible Thread
as Dick Cavett
1986
Doctor Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce
as Self
1986
Bye Bye Kipling
as Self
1986
Amazing Stories
as Dick Cavett
1986
It's Garry Shandling's Show
as Self (archive footage) (audio) (uncredited)
1985
Late Night with David Letterman
as Self - Guest
1984
Hotel
1983
Koyaanisqatsi
as Self (archive footage)
1983
Cheers
as Himself
1983
Saturday Night Live
as Self (uncredited)
1982
The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell
as Self
1982
The Video Wine Guide with Dick Cavett
as Self
1982
The Phil Donahue Show
as Self
1982
Yesteryear
as Self - Host
1981
Dick Cavett Meets ABBA
as Host
1981
Remember When
as Self - Host
1980
HealtH
as Dick Cavett
1980
Simon
as Himself
1979
Remember Me
as Narrator
1979
Time Was
as Self - Host
1978
Power Play
as Dick Cavett
1978
Hocus Pocus, It's Magic
as Self - Host
1977
Annie Hall
as Dick Cavett
1976
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Host
1975
Funny Girl to Funny Lady
as Self
1975
The Odd Couple
as Dick Cavett
1974
Janis
1974
Dinah!
as Self
1973
Jimi Hendrix
as Self (archive footage)
1973
Nightside
as Dick Cavett
1972
Cocksucker Blues
as Self
1972
Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here
as Self
1972
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
as Narrator (voice)
1972
Imagine
as Self
1972
Alias Smith and Jones
1972
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
as Self
1971
Fight of the Century
as Self-(Audience Member)
1971
Festival at Ford's
as Self
1970
Friars Club Roast of Don Rickles
as Self
1969
Jimi Hendrix: The Dick Cavett Show
as Self
1969
This Is Tom Jones
as Self
1968
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Host
1967
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1967
Kraft Music Hall
as Self
1966
ABC Stage 67
as Self - Host
1965
The Merv Griffin Show
as Self
1960
Playhouse 90: The Hiding Place
From the Ashes: The Life and Times of Tick Hall
as Self
I Refuse to Kill: He Went to War with War
as Self