Johnny Carson.

Johnny Carson was born on October 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa, to Ruth Hook and Homer Lee Carson, a manager at the Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Company. When he was eight, his family moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, where he lived until joining the U.S. Navy in 1943. At age 14, Carson began performing as a magician called The Great Carsoni at local venues, sparking his lifelong interest in entertainment. He graduated from Norfolk Senior High and earned a Bachelor of Arts in radio and speech from the University of Nebraska in 1949, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

After a brief stint in radio, Carson moved to television in the late 1940s, working at Nebraska TV stations before landing a comedy writing job on The Red Skelton Hour in 1951. His big break came when he substituted for an injured Skelton, delivering his first national monologue. From 1957 to 1962, he hosted the daytime game show Who Do You Trust?, teaming up with Ed McMahon in 1958. On October 2, 1962, Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, a position he held for 30 years. He developed signature elements: opening monologues, zany characters like Carnac the Magnificent, and the Mighty Carson Art Players. His popularity was immense: by 1970, TV Guide reported he earned $2 million annually, making him the highest-paid TV entertainer, and his salary later reached $5 million in the 1980s. In 1967, after a contract dispute, NBC guaranteed him $4 million over three years to return. Carson also hosted the Academy Awards five times from 1979 to 1984, and his sidekick McMahon’s catchphrase Heeeeere’s Johnny! became a cultural staple, parodied in films like The Shining and Annie Hall.

Carson married his college sweetheart Joan Morrill Wolcott in 1949; they had three sons: Richard, Christopher, and Cory. The couple divorced in 1963. He then married Joanne Carson in 1963, divorcing in 1972; the settlement awarded her nearly $500,000 in cash and art plus $75,000 annual alimony. In 1972, Carson married Joanna Holland on the tenth anniversary of The Tonight Show; their divorce in 1985 was one of the most expensive in California history, with Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property. His final marriage was to Alexis Mass in 1987; they remained together until his death. Carson’s son Richard died in a car accident in 1991. A heavy smoker of Pall Mall cigarettes, Carson suffered from COPD and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1999. He died peacefully of emphysema at his home in Malibu, California, on January 23, 2005, at age 79.

Carson redefined late-night television, creating an intimate rapport with audiences that made him the unchallenged King of Late Night. His monologues could influence society, as when a joke about a toilet paper shortage caused a real national panic in the early 1970s. He influenced successors like Jay Leno and David Letterman, and his format of celebrity banter and political satire became the template for talk shows. Carson received numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame the same year. Even in retirement, he occasionally contributed material to David Letterman’s monologues. His 30-year run on The Tonight Show remains a record for hosting the same network series, and he is remembered as one of the greatest television personalities of all time.