Mary Hart (born Mary Johanna Harum; November 8, 1950) is an American
television personality and was the long-running host (1982â€"2011) of
the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program Entertainment
Tonight, which is the longest running entertainment magazine show of
all time. She was also Miss South Dakota 1970.Hart was born in
Madison, South Dakota and lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well
as in Denmark, as a child and teenager. She speaks both Danish and
Swedish fluently. Hart, who competed as Mary Harum when she was Miss
South Dakota 1970, was a semi-finalist in the Miss America 1971
pageant. In 1968, Hart graduated, first from Augustana Academy and in
1972 from Augustana College in Sioux Falls. While teaching English at
Washington High School for two years, she also produced and anchored
her own talk show on KSFY-TV, the local NBC affiliate.Hart began her
full-time television career in 1975 at WMT-TV (currently KGAN) in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then moving to KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1976,
she went to KTVY (now KFOR-TV) in Oklahoma City, where she co-hosted a
show with Danny Williams called Dannysday. She also was a sales
representative for a school yearbook company. Determined to leave
journalism behind, she moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood of
Westwood in 1979 with $10,000 in the bank. Hart landed a small role on
the soap opera Days of Our Lives, as well as some TV commercials.
Almost broke, she became a co-host on the Los Angeles version of the
syndicated PM Magazine. That led to a job in 1981 as co-host of Regis
Philbin's first national talk show on NBC. When that show was canceled
four months later, Entertainment Tonight interviewed her about what it
felt like to be canceled. The day after the interview, she was hired
as an ET correspondent. Thirteen weeks later, she was named the show's
co-host, along with Ron Hendren.In 1984, Hendren was replaced by Robb
Weller, who was replaced by John Tesh in 1986, who was replaced by Bob
Goen in 1996. Hart began co-hosting ET with Mark Steines in 2004. Soon
after her hiring by ET, Hart chose Jay Bernstein as her manager. Hart
is known for her shapely legs, leading to an endorsement contract with
Hanes for that company's line of pantyhose in 1987. Jay Bernstein had
her legs insured with Lloyd's of London for $1 million each. Executive
Producer Linda Bell Blue described Hart as "the face of ET". On March
29, 1987 she participated in the World Wrestling Federation's
WrestleMania III, serving as the guest timekeeper in the main event
between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant. Mary Hart Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter