Biography - Mary Hart

Who is Mary Hart?

Mary Hart is a TV host, Entertainment journalist by profession, and American by nationality. She was crowned the 1970 Miss South Dakota and hosted Entertainment Tonight (ET) from 1982 to 2011. 

Mary Hart – Bio, Age, Parents, Siblings

Mary Hart’s birth took place on November 8, 1950, in Madison, South Dakota, USA. She was born Mary Johanna Harum to her father Robert Harum and her mother Dorothy Harum. She is not the only child of her parents and has two siblings- brothers Michael Harum and David Harum.

Growing up, she lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota as well as Denmark, and is fluent in Danish and Swedish as well.

Education, Ethnicity

For education Mary Hart attended Augustana Academy, graduating in 1968. She then went to enroll at Augustana College in Sioux Falls and graduated from the same in 1972 with an English degree.

Her ethnicity includes Norwegian and Danish.

Mary Hart – Boyfriend, Husband, Children, Divorce

Mary Hart married her boyfriend Terry Hart on 20 December 1971, when she was just 21 years old. But the marriage did not last and she divorced her husband in 1979.

She went on to date and marry her longtime boyfriend Burt Sugarman on 8 April 1989. Sugarman is a film producer. Their child, son Alec "AJ" Sugarman was born on 24 December 1991.

Currently, the couple is living together without rumors of extra-marital affairs and divorce.

Mary Hart – Career

Pageant

Mary Hart was crowned Miss South Dakota in 1970. She went on to represent the state in the Miss America 1971 pageant and reached the semi-finals of the competition. She was also crowned Miss Sioux Falls in 1969 and won the swimsuit competition. 

Also read: Mario Lopez - Actor, Entertainment journalist 

Early Career

Hart taught English at Washington High School for two years while also producing and anchoring her own talk show on KSFY-TV. In 1975 Mary Hart began her career in TV with WMT-TV (now KGAN), then moved to work at KMTV in Omaha. In 1976, she started working at KTVY (now KFOR-TV) as a co-host of the show Dannysday.

In 1979 Mary Hart moved to Los Angeles to start a career in the entertainment industry. She landed a minor role in Days of Our Lives and TV commercials. As her career as an actress was not moving ahead, she began to co-host PM Magazine, which in turn led her to co-host NBC’s talk show. But the show was canceled after a few months.

Also read: Jennifer Lahmers - TV Host, Anchor, Entertainment journalist 

With ET

Entertainment Tonight (ET) interviewed Mary Hart about what it felt like to be canceled and the day after the interview,  she was hired as an ET correspondent and eventually began to host the show with Ron Hendren. 

She continued to host the show for almost 3 decades, until 2011. Hart was replaced by Nancy O'Dell.

Also read: Bob Barker - Producer, Actor, TV host of The Price Is Right 

Others

Hart used to perform in Las Vegas, flying between two cities every day. She flew from Las Vegas at 11 pm after two shows and film ET the following morning at 8 am.  She had an endorsement with Hanes for pantyhose in 1987 and had insured her legs for $1 million each. 

Mary Hart – Net Worth, Salary

Her net worth is estimated to be around $100 million while her current annual salary is not known. While she was a host of ET, her annual salary was $5 million.

Mary Hart – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media, Mary Hart is active on Twitter with around 10k followers but is absent from Instagram and Facebook.

Also read: Lara Spencer - Reality TV star, Author, TV Host of Good Morning America