'Tonight Show' personality Ed McMahon dead at 86
Updated Tuesday, June 23rd 2009, 4:10 PM
NBC Ed McMahon became the most famous sidekick in television history working alongside Johnny Carson on 'The Tonight Show.'
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He was 86.
McMahon reportedly had been battling bone cancer and, in recent weeks, pneumonia.
He remained active until early this year, filming a "Cash4Gold" commercial that poked fun at his own financial troubles and aired during the Super Bowl.
Riding what he called a "whisky baritone" voice, McMahon became known as "the king of second bananas." During his 30 years on "The Tonight Show" he often seemed more like Carson's appreciative audience than his announcer.
He started his career as a salesman, pitching vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City Boardwalk to pay his college tuition, and he viewed his television jobs as better-paid continuations of his mission to sellthings.
But he remains best remembered for simply saying "Heeeeeeere's Johnny," the phrase that brought Carson on stage.
"Ed's introduction of Johnny was a classic broadcasting ritual - reassuring and exciting," David Letterman said Tuesday. "Ed was a true broadcaster and an integral part of Johnny Carson's 'Tonight Show.' We will miss him."
The new "Tonight Show" host, Conan O'Brien, paid tribute to McMahon during his monologue.
"For 30 years Ed played his part perfectly, he played it with effortless joy, and sitting alongside Johnny, Ed was an indelible part of what I think is the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history. There will never be anything like that again," said O'Brien.
Joan Rivers called McMahon "a terrific man. There wasn't a mean bone in his body. It is always a loss when a decent person dies."
Television viewers also saw him as a solid, ordinary citizen, and that made him a natural to hawk products from Breck shampoo to Budweiser beer.
He is less fondly remembered for the notorious Family Publishing House sweepstakes promotions that flooded millions of mailboxes in the 1990s.
Still, they underscored the fact that this second banana ultimately became almost as well known as his boss.
Jack Nicholson's famous "Heere's Johnny!" line from "The Shining" suggested how far McMahon's persona had spread, and over the years he made hundreds of cameo appearances playing himself on shows from "Hee Haw" to "The Simpsons."
Born in Detroit and raised in New England, McMahon flew military combat missions in World War II and Korea. In between hegraduated from Catholic University with a degree in speech and drama.
After a few minutes in radio he moved to Philadelphia television in the early 1950s, and in 1957 he began co-hosting "Who Do You Trust?" with Carson.
When Carson moved to "Tonight" in 1962, McMahon went along and stayed until Carson retired in 1992. On his own, he hosted "Star Search" from 1983 to 1995.
In later years, McMahon had health and financial problems. He won a $7 million insurance settlement in 2003 over mold that infested his Beverly Hills home, but last year he was served with a foreclosure notice for falling $644,000 behind on mortgage payments.
He was married three times and is survived by five children. In television lore, he will be remembered as a man who understood the enduring value of playing his position.
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