Marlin Perkins

“The silver-mustached host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom who brought the wild into the living room.”

83STACH SCORE

✂ Pencil Celebrity Era: 1960s Born 1905 🏆 HOF Inductee

Is this a Legendary Stach?

Stach Stats

Stash Power72

Ruggedness70

Curl Factor10

Legend Status95

Stats are for entertainment purposes. The mustache committee's decisions are final and occasionally arbitrary.

Style: Pencil
Peak Era: 1960s
Born: 1905
Hall of Fame: Inducted 2026
Fan Votes: 0 legendary · 0 meh

The Story

About Marlin Perkins

Marlin Perkins (1905–1986) was an American zoologist and television host, best remembered as the host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the wildlife series that ran from 1963 into the 1980s and introduced millions of families to animals and places they would never otherwise have seen. Before Wild Kingdom he hosted Zoo Parade, one of the earliest nature programs on American television, in the 1950s.

He was a zoo professional first. Perkins served as director of the Buffalo Zoo, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and the Saint Louis Zoo, and he was a respected figure in zoology and conservation long before television made him famous. His calm, grandfatherly delivery, often setting up a segment from a safe distance while his co-host Jim Fowler did the wrestling, became a running joke in American pop culture and a beloved part of the show.

His neat silver mustache, always trimmed, always composed, was as much a part of the Wild Kingdom image as the theme music.

The Verdict

Why the Stach Became Iconic

Perkins' mustache was a narrow, tidy pencil-to-chevron affair, worn white in his television years and paired with khaki, spectacles and a gentle smile. It was the face of Sunday-evening television for a generation, and it taught the country that a naturalist could look like a kindly professor rather than a swashbuckler.

Few mustaches have done more for wildlife education. Wild Kingdom was a gateway for countless future biologists, zookeepers and conservationists, and that silver lip was the first thing they saw.

On the Record

Appearances

Zoo Parade (1950s) — early television nature series
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (1963–1985) — host
Director of the Buffalo Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo

Fun Facts

He began his zoo career at the Saint Louis Zoo in the 1920s and later returned to run it.
The gag about Perkins narrating safely while Jim Fowler handled the animals became a pop-culture staple, parodied for decades.
Wild Kingdom won multiple Emmy Awards during its original run.
He is credited with helping make wildlife conservation a mainstream television subject.