Biography
American TV personality who began as the host of The Tonight Show on October 1, 1962,
reportedly for $100,000 a year, retiring on May 22, 1992 at a $25 million per year salary. In
1979 he bought into 17% of NBC's earnings, which insured his billionaire status. With his
nonchalant, inventive wit, he was one of the most popular and enduring figures on American TV,
a household icon for millions of Americans. He was reliable, respected, reassuring - and
funny, a familiar figure who was part of many lives. Keeping his finger on the common pulse,
he instinctively knew when to pull back to avoid hurting anyone. On December 11, 1992, then-President
George H. W. Bush conferred on him the Medal of Freedom. A year later, Carson was awarded a
Lifetime Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center.
The son of a power company district manager and a homemaker, Carson grew up in a typical Midwestern
four-bedroom white frame house with a brother and sister in the town of Norfolk, Nebraska. He
and his brother Dick skinny-dipped and fished in the Elk Horn River. Growing up, he worked as
movie theater usher and a soda jerk. Learning mail-order magic tricks at 14, he performed his
first magic gig, earning three dollars. In the Navy, he entertained every chance he got. While
attending the University of Nebraska he got his start in local radio.
He was known as an ambitious disc jockey and talk show host in Omaha in 1949. In 1951 he moved
his wife and first son, Chris, to Los Angeles where he worked as an announcer at a local CBS
affiliate. In 1957 Carson became the host of ABC's Who Do You Trust? game show gaining notice
for his quick wit and repartee. Carson was selected to replace popular Jack Paar as host of the
The Tonight Show in 1962. In over 30 years as its host, Carson interviewed thousands of guests
from royalty to the ordinary, introduced dozens of new personalities to the public, and will
always be known as America's humorous late-night friend, a mid-Western boy not afraid to poke
fun at himself as well as the powerful. He easily outlasted an array of competition. Dubbed the
"naughty but good-natured son," Middle America liked him. When arrested for drunk driving he
said on The Tonight Show, "I regret the incident, and I'll tell you one thing: You'll never
see me do that again."
Carson married his first wife, Jody Wolcott Buckley, during his senior year at the University
of Nebraska in 1949. They had three sons: Chris, Richard and Cory. Carson's second son, Richard,
born on June 18, 1952, was killed when his car ran off the road down an embankment on June 21, 1991.
Carson and Jody divorced in 1963 after a four-year separation. The relationship was difficult and
his early marriages were reputed to have suffered from his abuse, alcoholism, and neglect. Carson's
second marriage was to Joanne Copeland (1963-1972); his third to Joanna Holland (1972-1983) and
his fourth to Alexis Maas (1987-his death). His divorces were fuel for his late-night humor and
he commented, "If I had given as much to marriage as I gave to The Tonight Show, I'd probably have
a hell of a marriage."
Despite a few off-hand remarks about his divorces, Carson was a private man, generally quiet
about himself. His many friends from all walks of life hold his confidence and trust, attesting that
Carson is a loyal and generous friend. Without publicity, Carson contributed to humane causes and amassed
an impressive art collection. Many comedians credit Carson for their first big break. After his retirement
on May 22, 1992, when he gracefully bowed out after a 30-year reign, Carson remained a recluse from the
public eye. He and Alexis lived in their 16-room cliff-side Malibu, California home from where he enjoyed
his hobbies of tennis, astronomy and drums, read voraciously and played cards with old cronies. He
occasionally wrote jokes and dashed them off to David Letterman. In the early morning of March 19, 1999,
Carson was awakened by severe chest pains. He and Alexis reached the hospital in nearby Santa Monica by
ambulance at 3:30 AM. By 7:00 AM he was in the operating room for a quadruple-bypass surgery. In
mid-September 2002, he released the information that he had emphysema.
Johnny Carson died on January 23, 2005. Initial reports claimed that he died at his Malibu, CA home early
in the morning, but an Associated Press report issued two weeks later differed. The Associated Press,
citing Carson's death certificate, said that Carson died at 6:50 AM on the 23rd at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to the same report, "The immediate cause of death was 10
minutes of 'respiratory arrest' with the underlying cause 20 years of emphysema." Carson was 79.
Top
Quote from his final show:
- "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I
always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I bid you a very heartfelt goodnight."
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What Do You Think?
Johnny Carson gave TV talk shows and late-night television a new popularity. His obituary in the New
York Times said, "During those three decades [of hosting The Tonight Show], he became the biggest, most
popular star American television has known."
- Dick Cavett, a colleague in talk-show hosting and comedy, called Carson "a born comedian." We know
that from an early age, Carson was performing magic tricks and loved being in front of audiences. Where
might you see his flair for comedy and his love for performance in his chart?
- Despite the fact that he was a gifted TV personality and seemed to love performing, he revealed little
of himself. Surely the Scorpio ascendant had a lot to do with this need for privacy. What other markers in
the chart intensify this need to retreat from the public eye?
- Though he was much beloved by his audiences, his ex-wives claimed that Carson was difficult to live with. They
reported that, at times, he was an abusive and neglectful husband who smoked and drank too much. Yet he seemed
to inspire great loyalty from his fellow performers like long-time sidekick Ed McMahon and musical director Doc
Severinsen. What in the chart describes this dichotomy in relationships
The last two questions focus on one of the toughest aspects of reading a chart. How does one
tell an integrated story about contradictory indications? It's easy going from the life to the
chart, but not as easy going from the chart to a reading about the life. Let's take an opportunity to
learn this art by studying Johnny Carson's chart.
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