Late-night’s most respected and most revered host, Johnny Carson, died Sunday morning. He was 79.

His cause of death was not immediately known, but his nephew told the AP that Carson “passed away peacefully.”

“He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service,” said Jeff Sotzing.

Carson retired from The Tonight Show in 1992 and since then had been battling his health. In 2002, he revealed he was suffering from emphysema. In 1999, he underwent a quadruple-heart bypass, which may have been necessary because of a heart attack, which was never confirmed.

The host of show for 30 years, Carson was mentor for many rising comics, perhaps the most influential on the career of David Letterman. Although Jay Leno took over The Tonight Show on NBC, Carson was always in touch with Letterman, once appearing on his show in 1994 (He didn’t speak; he waived).

Since retiring, he would rarely make a public appearance. He appeared frequently on Entertainment Tonight, but not through interviews, but through paparazzi-styled videos and photos. He rarely gave an interview after he retired, and was content with his seclusion.

In fact, last week, Peter Lassally, former producer of The Tonight Show, said Carson still came up with monologue jokes, and he’d call Letterman with the punch lines. “Johnny [would get] a big kick out of that,” Lassally said. “I think the thing he misses the most is the monologue.”

Before The Tonight Show, Carson appeared on his own shows, “Carson’s Cellar” in 1951 and “The Johnny Carson Show” in 1955, followed by the game show “Who Do You Trust?” from 1957-62, where he met Ed McMahon, who stayed as his announcer when he started the late show gig.

Carson married four times. He is survived by his fourth wife, Alexis Mass, and two sons. A third son died in a car accident in 1991.






Related Stories: