Johnny Carson Spouse, Children, Net Worth, Death, Biography

Johnny Carson is one of those whose memories will never be erased. Johnny was an American comedian and talk show host who hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for a solid 30 years (1962 – 1992)

Johnny Carson Biography/Facts

Johnny was born in Corning, Iowa on October 23, 1925, as John William Carson to a power company executive, Homer Lloyd “Kit” Carson and his beautiful wife, Ruth Elizabeth (Hook) Carson – of origin Irish.

He grew up in different towns – Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwestern Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska at the age of eight, where he began to develop his skills in entertainment. After finding a book on magic at a friend’s house when he was 12, Johnny immediately bought a magic kit and began practicing his skills with friends and family using magic tricks. cards.

He got the necessary support soon enough from his family, who did not chase him away but encouraged him. In fact, her mother was one of her biggest early fans. When he was 14, his mother sewed him a cape. was paid $3 per show.

Many other performances soon followed at local picnics and country fairs. To earn more money, Johnny got a part-time job at the theater in Granada, where he worked as a cinema usher, selling subscriptions to the Saturday Evening Post from door to door.

As a high school student, Carson also developed through his mastery of comedy and writing while writing a humor column for the Norfolk High newspaper, he also randomly helped add notes of levity to the school yearbook.

It wasn’t until after high school that Carson first encountered Hollywood. Determined to try out his hosting skills, Johnny hitchhiked to Hollywood, but was arrested and fined $50 for impersonating a wannabe. This story has often been called apocryphal.

Career

Carson joined the United States Navy in 1943, trained in the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Columbia University and Millsaps College, respectively. He was commissioned an ensign and assigned to the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. In the Navy, Johnny was well known for his entertaining skills and for being a source of comic relief when needed.

After his discharge from the Navy, Carson entered the University of Nebraska where he earned a degree in journalism with the intention of pursuing a career as a writer. When that didn’t work, he turned to the radio and the spoken word. He earned a dollar a week writing a comedy show on Lincoln’s KFAB radio station called Eddie Sosby and the Radio Rangers

Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 after graduating with a BA in radio and a speech with a minor in physics the previous year. He started by hosting a morning show on WOW-TV in Omaha called The Squirrel’s Nest. He also served as a disc jockey on WOWradio. Before long, Johnny was boosting his income by taking jobs as emcee at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and town leaders he had ridiculed on the radio.

The rise to stardom

Carson rose to fame in 1951 when a friend recommended him for the position of staff announcer at KNXT-TV in LA. This occasion resulted in a Sunday afternoon show Carson’s Cellar, which was budgeted at $25 per show. As his popularity on the show grew, a big fan of the show, Red Skelton, hired Carson as a writer and actor on his CBS-TV show.

Then came the stroke of luck – during a rehearsalOne night, Skelton couldn’t perform because he was cold and Carson had to replace him as the clown prince of the night and that was it. Carson from then on went from host to host – including The Johnny Carson Show, Earn Your Vacation, Trust You? (Do you trust your wife?). He was a guest then regular presenter of the show. Telling the truth from 1960 to 1962.

See also: Kathy Griffin, Biography, Net worth, Married, Husband, Divorce, Boyfriend

The show tonight

Due to the success of Carson’s skills on ABC Who Do You Trust? NBC invited him to come and take over The Tonight Show, which had first been hosted by Steve Allen and then by Jack Paar – Jack Paar left the show in 1962.

Johnny initially turned down the offer as he saw it as a big challenge to interview celebrities for 120 minutes. But after Jackie Gleason, Bob Newhart, Joey Bishop and Groucho also turned down the job, NBC asked Carson to convince him he was the man for the job. So he signed with NBC in 1962 and ran it successfully for 30 years.

An estimated 50 million people watched his last broadcast in 1992.

See also: wife of Bill Cosby, son, children, death, net worth, house, height

Johnny Carson, spouse, children

Carson has been married four times and divorced three times. He was first married to Jody Wolcott from 1948 to 1963. Their union produced three sons, Richard, Charles and Cory. (Richard unfortunately died in a car accident in 1991).

Within a year he married Joanne Copeland and in 1972 they divorced. His third marriage was to Joanna Holland. The couple had obtained a divorce in 1983. After the failure of his third marriage, Carson remained single until June 1987, when he married his fourth and last wife, Alexis Maas, until his death in 2005.

The Death of Johnny Carson, Net Worth

The television legend died in January 2005 at the age of 79. Carson, a chain smoker for many years, announced in 2002 that he suffered from emphysema.

Carson had a net worth of $300 million. Before he left The Tonight Show in 1992, his annual salary was $25 million, and when he died, he left about $200 million to charity.