Johnny Carson became a household name when his ground-breaking late-night chat show paved the way for the many late-night shows we know and love today.ย In my opinion, there has never been a better night-time TV host.
Carson received no less than six Emmy Awards and earned a place in theย Television Academy Hall of Fame, as well as being awarded theย Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.
He was all smiles on TV and kept his legion of fans entertained with his characters in the sketches performed on his show. Better monologues, better skits, better interviews โ it was the Johnny Carson show, although they called itย The Tonight Show. Carson has been credited with influencing many of the successful chat show hosts who followed him, including David Letterman.
But behind the scenes he is reported to have been a very troubled soul, citing his relationship with his mother as the reason for so many of his issues. Carsonโs mom is said to have favored his sister, Catherine, over him and his brother, Dick.
Carsonโs first wife, Jody Wolcott Carson, revealed details about the TV starโs mother.
โI heard stories that she broke a whole set of dishes on the kitchen wall. She was a real force in the family, the real matriarch,โ she said, according toย History101.
The book that sent shockwaves
When Carsonโs personal lawyer Henry Bushkin wrote a tell-all book about the American icon, it sent shockwaves around the nation.
There had been a lot of speculation and there were many rumors surrounding Johnny Carson and his persona. When the book was released, a lot of information saw the light of day for the first time.
In a 2013 interview withย Inside Edition, about his bookย โJohnny Carsonโ, Bushkin said the American icon was not a happy man.
โHe would tell you heโs not a happy guy. He would tell you, โMy personality is basically unhappy,โโย he said.
According to Bushkin, Carson refused to attend his mother Ruthโs funeral saying: โThe wicked witch is dead.โ
Married four times
Ruth reportedly never acknowledged Carsonโs success.
โIt constantly got to him. Her, sort of lack of any sort of emotion towards him. And certainly, never giving him the great satisfaction of being the giant star he became,โ Bushkin said.
Carson was married four times, marrying his second and third wives the same year his divorces came through.
In a 2017 interview withย Peopleย Carson is said have joked that:
โMy giving advice on marriage is like the captain of theย Titanicย giving lessons on navigation.โ
His sonโs tragic death
In 1948, Carson married Jody Wolcott, with whom he had three sons. They would turn out to be his only children.
They divorced in 1963 but tragically his middle son, Richard, died in 1991. Richard lost his life when his car plunged down a steep embankment along a paved service road off a highway in California.
The death of a child is unbearable to any parent, whether it happens when they are young or adults themselves. At the time, Carson displayed a rare moment of emotion on camera in thanking his fans for their โvery thoughtful and compassionateโ letters concerning the death of his son.
โIt meant a very great deal to me,โ he said.
According to Bushkinโs book, Carsonโs longtime executive producer, Fred De Cordova, gave him a sign to wrap it up because they were running out of time and Carson became so angry he โbanned De Cordova from the floor ofย โThe Tonight Showโย set and never permitted him to return.โ
Notorious womanizer
Carson was a notorious womanizer and his marriages were plagued with infidelity. He also had a drinking problem and after being caught driving while under the influence, he was given three years probation.
Yet despite his on-camera charisma, Carson was very shy off-camera.
โWhen Iโm in front of an audience, well, itโs a different thing. Iโm in control,โ he once said.
โThereโs Carson the performer, and thereโs Carson the private individual, and I can separate the two.โ
Carsonโs married his second wife, Joanne Copeland, the same year his divorce came through from his first wife.
โJohnny was very shy. He was painfully shy. So when he was โ was โ and even more than his family, he was very guarded. But he was very funnyโ, Joanneย toldย Larry King in 2007.
Their marriage lasted 9 years, and at the Carsonย Tonight Showโsย 10th-anniversary party โย the same year his divorce came through from Copeland โ he announced his relationship and former model Joanna Holland. They stayed and were married for 18 years.
On June 20, 1987, Carson married Alexis Maas. The marriage lasted until Carsonโs death in 2005.
Even though his family described him as shy, there was another side as well. Carson was said to have quite an explosive personality.
โHe had a hair trigger on many things. So, I think I added some humanity over the years to him that he couldnโt really exhibit because of what he got from his mother,โย said Bushkin.
โHe was an incredibly complex man,โ Bushkin writes.
โOne moment gracious, funny and generous; and curt, aloof and hard-hearted the next.โ
Carson even fired his long-time friend and lawyer Bushkin in 1981.
The guest he couldnโt stand
As one of the most iconic late-night hosts in television history, Johnny Carson met thousands of people over 8,000 episodes. But when it comes to guests he liked the least; an unexpected name pops up. In the book Hope: Entertainer of the Century, Richard Zoglin reveals that there was one frequent guest that Johnny had a hard time with โ Bob Hope.
Hope, who had his own theme music as soon as he appeared on the show, apparently grew tired of the British-American comedian who had been a prime-time star for NBC since 1950.
According to the author, Carson didnโt like Bob Hopeโs โobviously prepared gag linesโ and โscripted jokesโ.
โCarson resented the way Hope could virtually book himself onย The Tonight Showย whenever he had something to promote,โ Zoglin wrote in his book, โwhich seemed to be all the time.โ
Carson retired fromย The Tonight Showย in 1992, and was rarely seen in public again. He died in 2005 in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising fromย emphysema.
Johnny Carsonโs sons
There is not much information about Johnny Carsonโs two sons. Carsonโs eldest son, Christoper, tried to become a golf professional but never appears to have had success in his endeavor. He appeared in the news during aย custody disputeย in the late 1980s.
Cory Carson, meanwhile, born in 1953, has also kept a low profile. According to some sources he hasย made a livingย as a guitarist.
In 1981, Carson created the John W. Carson Foundation, dedicated to supporting children, education, and health services. Itโs said to be the largest of the Hollywood charities. Upon his death, heย left the Foundation $156 million.
Despite his troubled childhood, Carson rose to be the success he was and will forever be remembered as a TV legend.ย Tonight Showย hasnโt been the same since he retiredย andย there will never be a great night show like this again.ย
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