Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-21 of 21
- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Johnny Carson, the legendary "King of Late Night TV" who dominated the medium's nether hours for three decades, was born in Corning, Iowa, but moved with his family to nearby Norfolk, Nebraska when he was eight years old. He was the son of Ruth E. (Hook) and Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a manager of the Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Company. It was in Norfolk, where he lived until he was inducted into the U.S. Navy in 1943, that he started his show business career. At age 14, Carson began appearing as the magician "The Great Carsoni" at local venues.
In 1962, Carson was chosen by NBC to succeed the controversial Jack Paar and his The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957). Paar had decided to quit the show and begin a once-a-week show for NBC in prime time on Friday nights. Carson would never be controversial like Paar, preferring to good-naturedly skewer politicians and celebrities in his opening monologue and staging stunts such as the on-stage marriage of retro-singer Tiny Tim to his "Miss Vicky" in 1969. His popularity with the late-night audience became so great, and the income from advertising on his show so profitable that, in 1967, NBC had to lure Johnny back to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)after a walkout with a three-year contract guaranteeing him a minimum of $4 million. In the early 1970s, TV Guide reported that Carson was earning $2 million a year, making him the highest paid TV entertainer ever, a record he repeatedly surpassed, pulling down a then-record $5 million annual salary in the 1980s. Carson created a sense of intimacy with his guests and audiences that made him the unvanquished "King of Nighttime TV". Countless talk shows hosted by the likes of Joey Bishop and Dick Cavett and other non-talk show programs were launched against him year after year only to fail, with the notable exception of ABC News Nightline (1979) halfway through his reign. His tempestuous love-life, which included two high-profile divorces, became the fodder of such celebrity staples as "The National Enquirer" and later "People Magazine", and he was even the subject of a roman a clef pulp novel in the early 1970s. There have been at least seven published biographies of Carson.
After brief stints on radio stations in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, his career was exclusively in television, starting with work at Nebraska TV stations in the late 1940s which preceded his 1951-53 skit program Carson's Cellar (1952) on Los Angeles station KNXT-TV. Attracting the attention of the industry, he was hired as a comedy writer for The Red Skelton Hour (1951) which provided him with a career breakthrough when Skelton was injured backstage and Carson substituted for him, delivering his first monologue before a national audience. This led to a stint as the host of the quiz show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the variety showcase The Johnny Carson Show (1953) in 1955-56. The man who would soon become the most famous late-night TV personality in history hosted the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? (1956) from 1957-62, teaming up with longtime sidekick, Ed McMahon, in 1958.
Before his triumph on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Carson tried his hand at dramatic acting, appearing in Three Men on a Horse (1957) (episode # 1.29) during the inaugural season of Playhouse 90 (1956) in 1957. In 1960, he shot a pilot for a prime-time TV series, "Johnny Come Lately", that was not picked up by a network. Carson had sat in for "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar in 1958 and, when Paar left the show four years later, NBC chose Carson as his replacement, taking over the catbird seat on October 2, 1962. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). Sidekick McMahon's "Heeeeere's Johnny!!!" introduction of Carson became a cultural catchphrase, memorably reprised by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), Woody Allen's character in the Best Picture Academy Award-winning Annie Hall (1977), stand-up comic Alvy Singer, is recognized in front of a movie theater by a street tough due to his appearance on "The Tonight Show".
Aside from his banter with celebrities, he amused his audience for 30 years with broadly played skit comedy by his "Mighty Carson Art Players" and his spoof clairvoyant "Carnac the Magnificent". He made memorable put-downs of politicians and celebrities, a format that was used by his successors Jay Leno and David Letterman and legions of comics who came after him. When a joke bombed during his monologues, Carson would do a wounded double-take as the audience jeered, fully aware of the awfulness of the joke he had just unloaded. Following these bombs with a sly, self-deprecating remark engendered a sense of intimacy between Carson and his fans.
A liberal in the increasingly liberal age of the 1960s and 1970s, so powerful were his opening monologues that by the early 1970s, he could actually affect society at large outside of the pop culture realm. A joke about a shortage of industrial grade toilet paper caused a national panic and a run on all grades of t.p., with a resulting shortage of the product about which he had kidded. Playing off current events such as the Watergate crisis, his comic evisceration of President Richard Nixon was credited with some critics as exerting such a drag on Nixon's approval rating that it made his resignation possible, if not inevitable. After Carson's reign, it became increasingly de rigueur for politicians to appear on late-night TV talk shows and bear a host's jibes in order to stump for votes.
Carson's connection with the American culture was so absolute, it contributed to one of his few failures, the rejection of "The Tonight Show" in the early 1980s by British audiences who could not understand the topical references of his monologues. And his audience's identification of Johnny with the "Tonight Show" effectively stopped him from work in other media. In the mid-1960s, Carson's agents wanted to trade on his vast popularity to position him in motion pictures as the "New Jack Lemmon", but Carson never made any forays outside of television. His connection with the movie industry remained his hosting of three generations of stars and his memorable turns as the host of five Academy Awards telecasts from 1979-84. In that role, he generally is regarded as the best successor to long-time Oscar host Bob Hope. He did stretch his wings as a producer, his Carson Productions producing TV pilots and series, TV movies and [error], in addition to his own talk show.
The six-time Emmy-winner considered a follow-up to "The Tonight Show", but nothing caught his interest and he spent the last decade of his life in a quiet retirement in Malibu, California, as befitted his private nature. Thus, it was "The Tonight Show" that remains his creative legacy. Unlike every other TV star, he remained on top until the very end, the show winning its ratings period every year for 30 years. When Carson retired, his last appearance was one of the highest rated late night TV shows ever.
"I have an ego like anybody else", Carson told The Washington Post in 1993, "but I don't need to be stoked by going before the public all the time". Frederick De Cordova, the producer of "The Tonight Show" throughout Carson's 30-year run, believed that Carson never pressured himself to launch a follow-up as he already had achieved unprecedented success on TV. "He is one of a kind, was one of a kind", De Cordova said in 1995. "I don't think there's any reason for him to try something different".
Carson, who was suffering from emphysema and had quadruple bypass surgery in 1999, died peacefully at the age of 79 on January 23, 2005, surrounded by his family and friends. In terms of career longevity, popularity, peer respect and impact on the medium, Carson ranks with Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason as a television great.- Michelle Rounds was born on 10 May 1971 in Corning, New York, USA. She was married to Krista Monteleone and Rosie O'Donnell. She died on 11 September 2017 in Windermere, Florida, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gela Nash was born on 1 November 1953 in Corning, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Body Double (1984) and Hill Street Blues (1981). She has been married to John Taylor since 16 March 1999. She was previously married to Chris Nash.- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Duane Eddy was born on 26 April 1938 in Corning, New York, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Natural Born Killers (1994), Forrest Gump (1994) and Broken Arrow (1996). He was married to Deed Abbate, Maureen A Power, Jessi Colter and Carol Fowler. He died on 30 April 2024 in Franklin, Tennessee, USA.- Byron Barr was born on 18 August 1917 in Corning, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Double Indemnity (1944), Tokyo Rose (1946) and Tarnished (1950). He died on 3 November 1966 in Sacramento County, California, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Margaret Sanger was born on 14 September 1879 in Corning, New York, USA. She was a director and writer, known for Birth Control (1917) and The Mike Wallace Interview (1957). She was married to James Noah Henry Slee and William Sanger. She died on 6 September 1966 in Tucson, Arizona, USA.- Emma grew up in Corning, New York. She has 4 older brothers and three older sisters. She was born to act! When Emma was two yeas old, her mother heard her talking over the baby monitor. It sounded like Emma was carrying on a conversation with other children. Emma's mom went in to find Emma playing with her stuff animals and dolls, giving each of them a different voice. This was the beginning of her dramatic career. In addition to acting, Emma loves singing and says that she cannot live without music.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Ben F. Wilson, the prolific actor and director of the silent era, was born on July 7, 1876, in Corning, NY. His career as an actor began as most other thespians did in that era--as a member of a theatrical stock company. The stock companies that employed Wilson worked the East Coast circuits.
The original "Hollywood" was Fort Lee, NJ, since the "inventor" of the motion picture (movie cameras and projection equipment), Thomas Edison, was a resident of New Jersey. Edison made the first movies himself and soon consolidated his movie equipment patents with those of others and formed the Motion Picture Trust. The Trust virtually bound movie production to New Jersey and the metropolitan New York City area at the turn of the last century, as Edison wanted to closely supervise--and, of course, make sure he got a cut of the profits from--those using his equipment.
Wilson, in fact, began his film career as an employee of Thomas Edison. Billed as "Benjamin Wilson," he made his film debut in Edwin S. Porter's Silver Threads Among the Gold (1911) for the Edison Co. From 1911-13 Wilson appeared in 13 movies directed by J. Searle Dawley, including The Priest and the Man (1913), the first cinematic adaptation of a work by popular Canadian novelist and short-story writer Gilbert Parker. Wilson first directed himself as an actor in A Shot in the Dark (1912). He directed 88 movies in which he appeared as an actor, mostly in the period of 1915-16. He left Edison for the Nestor Co. and eventually started his own production company, with a distribution deal with the Universal Film Manufacturing Co., which was still headquartered on the East Coast. He was popular enough as an actor by 1916 to be featured on his own "trading card" in an issue from Piedmont Cigarettes. Other honorees included Florence Lawrence, E.K. Lincoln and Pearl White. The next year he appeared on a card issued by Egyptian Oasis cigarettes along with such other stars as King Baggot, Sidney Drew, Mrs. Sidney Drew, Marshall Neilan and Anna Q. Nilsson. In 1918 Wilson hooked up again with Universal, this time as a producer. He produced and directed the 18-part action-adventure serial The Brass Bullet (1918). Eventually, he served on the board of directors of the Motion Picture Directors' Association of America, a fraternal organization created by J. Searle Dawley and others in 1915 to promote the interests of movie directors.
In addition to appearing in 168 films as an actor, Wilson directed 123 movies, produced 69 and wrote 11 screenplays. By the late 1920s, however, he was reduced to grinding out cheap fodder for Poverty Row, producing, directing and writing silent films up through 1930 for Morris R. Schlank Productions, pretty much the bottom of the barrel of Hollywood studios. He made the transition to sound as an actor only: Wilson's last film was an acting gig in the Buck Jones western Shadow Ranch (1930) for Columbia Pictures, which was released in 1930. It remains his only sound picture, as his career was cut short by ill health.
Ben F. Wilson died from complications of heart disease on August 25, 1930, in Glendale, CA. He was 54 years old.- Andrew Hibbard was born on 29 April 1977 in Corning, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for The Idol (2023), ER (1994) and Anger Management (2012). He has been married to Kristy Grant since 12 August 2003.
- Larry Allison was born on 11 September 1943 in Corning, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Broken Circle (2006). He was married to Jocelyn DelaRosa Allison. He died on 16 December 2014 in the USA.
- Soundtrack
Iola Brubeck was born on 14 August 1923 in Corning, California, USA. She was married to Dave Brubeck. She died on 12 March 2014 in Wilton, Connecticut, USA.- Archie Fire Lame Deer was born in Corn Creek, South Dakota, on the rosebud Sioux reservation. His father was John Fire Lame Deer, a well-known Lakota holy man. He enlisted in the army twice and was a veteran of the Korean War, a member of the special forces and a p.o.w. With Richard Erdoes. He wrote Gift of Power: the life and teachings of a Lakota medicine man.
- Jeff Stover was born on 22 May 1958 in Corning, California, USA.
- Joël Champetier was born on 30 November 1957 in La Corne, Quebec, Canada. He was a writer, known for La peau blanche (2004). He was married to Valérie Bédard. He died on 30 May 2015 in St-Tite, Quebec, Canada.
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Patricia Frawley was born on 5 March 1955 in Corning, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Equalizer (1985). She died on 20 October 2023 in Addison, New York, USA.- Michael McGuinness was born on 13 May 1961 in Corning, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Die Hard: Vendetta (2002), American Slices (2001) and Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (2002).
- Amory Houghton Jr. was born on 7 August 1926 in Corning, Steuben, New York, USA. He was married to Ruth Frances West and Priscilla Blackett Dewey . He died on 4 March 2020 in Corning, Steuben, New York, USA.
- Kelly Butler was born on 10 October 1972 in Corning, New York, USA. She has been married to Stephen C. Butler Jr. since 21 June 1990. They have one child.
- Miranda Schreurs was born on 29 July 1963 in Corning, New York, USA.
- Additional Crew
Ralph Goings was born on 9 May 1928 in Corning, California, USA. He is known for An Unmarried Woman (1978). He died on 4 September 2016 in Sacramento, California, USA.- Additional Crew
Bob Condella was born on 7 November 1968 in Corning, New York, USA. He is known for Kalifornia (1993).