name	Steve Martin
birth name	Stephen Glenn Martin
birth date	August 14, 1945
birth place	Waco, Texas, United States
medium	Concert, film, recordings, television, books
nationality	American
active	1967–present
genre	Surreal humor, Musical comedy, physical comedy, sketch comedy, Wit/word play Music: bluegrass
influences	British television, Red Skelton, Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Laurel and Hardy, Wally Boag
influenced	Judd Apatow, Will Arnett, Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert, Eddie Izzard, Patton Oswalt, Lucy Porter, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart
spouse	Victoria Tennant (1986–1994)Anne Stringfield (2007–present)
signature	SteveMartin.png
website	www.stevemartin.com
Child	yes
emmyawards	Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music1969 ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''
grammyawards	Best Comedy Album1978 ''Let's Get Small''1979 ''A Wild and Crazy Guy''Best Country Instrumental Performance2002 ''Foggy Mountain Breakdown''Best Bluegrass Album2009 ''The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo''
americancomedyawards	Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy2000 Lifetime Achievement
Awardtitle1	NYFCC Award for Best Actor
Award1	''All of Me'' (1984) }}

}} Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, author, playwright, producer, musician and composer. Martin came to public notice as a writer for the ''Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'', and later became a frequent guest on ''The Tonight Show''. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.

Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, Martin has become a successful actor in both comedic and dramatic roles, as well as an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player, eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among other honors.

Early life

Martin was born in Waco, Texas, the son of Mary Lee (née Stewart) and Glenn Vernon Martin, a real estate salesman and aspiring actor. Martin was raised in Inglewood, California, and then later in Garden Grove, California, in a Baptist family. One of his earliest memories is of seeing his father, as an extra, serving drinks onstage at the Call Board Theatre on Melrose Place. During World War II, in England, Martin's father had appeared in a production of ''Our Town'' with Raymond Massey. Years later, he would write to Massey for help in Steve's fledgling career, but would receive no reply. Expressing his affection through gifts of cars, bikes, etc., Martin's father was stern, and not emotionally open to his son. He was proud but critical, with Martin later recalling that in his teens his feelings for his father were mostly ones of hatred. Martin's first job was at Disneyland, selling guidebooks on weekends and full-time during the summer school break. That lasted for three years (1955–1958). During his free time he frequented the Main Street Magic shop, where tricks were demonstrated to potential customers. By 1960, he had mastered several of the tricks and illusions, and took a paying job there in August. There he perfected his talents for magic, juggling, and creating balloon animals, frequently performing for tips. In his authorized biography, close friend Morris Walker suggests that Martin could "be described most accurately as an agnostic [...] he rarely went to church and was never involved in organized religion of his own volition".

Comedy

After high school graduation, Martin attended Santa Ana Junior College, taking classes in drama and English poetry. In his free time, he teamed up with friend and Garden Grove High School classmate Kathy Westmoreland to participate in comedies and other productions at the Bird Cage Theatre. He joined a comedy troupe at Knott's Berry Farm. Later, he met budding actress Stormie Sherk, and they developed comedy routines and became romantically involved. Sherk's influence caused Martin to apply to the California State University, Long Beach, for enrollment with a major in Philosophy. Stormie enrolled at UCLA, about an hour's drive north, and the distance eventually caused them to lead separate lives.

Inspired by his philosophy classes, Martin considered becoming a professor instead of an actor-comedian. His time at college changed his life. "It changed what I believe and what I think about everything. I majored in philosophy. Something about non-sequiturs appealed to me. In philosophy, I started studying logic, and they were talking about cause and effect, and you start to realize, 'Hey, there is no cause and effect! There is no logic! There is no anything!' Then it gets real easy to write this stuff, because all you have to do is twist everything hard—you twist the punch line, you twist the non sequitur so hard away from the things that set it up". Martin recalls wondering in a psychology class "What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation." Martin periodically spoofed his philosophy studies in his 1970s stand-up act, comparing philosophy with studying geology. "If you're studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life."

In 1967, Martin transferred to UCLA and switched his major to theater. While attending college, he appeared in an episode of ''The Dating Game''. Martin began working local clubs at night, to mixed notices, and at twenty-one he dropped out of college.

Career

Early career – stand-up

In 1967, his former girlfriend Nina Goldblatt, a dancer on ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'', helped Martin land a writing job with the show by submitting his work to head writer Mason Williams. Williams initially paid Martin out of his own pocket. Along with the other writers for the show, Martin won an ''Emmy Award'' in 1969, aged 23. He also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of his in Aspen, Colorado, at one point), ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'', and ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.'' Martin's first TV appearance was on ''The Steve Allen Show'' in 1969. He says: "[I] appeared on ''The Virginia Graham Show,'' circa 1970. I looked grotesque. I had a hairdo like a helmet, which I blow-dried to a puffy bouffant, for reasons I no longer understand. I wore a frock coat and a silk shirt, and my delivery was mannered, slow and self-aware. I had absolutely no authority. After reviewing the show, I was depressed for a week." During these years his roommates included comedian Gary Mule Deer and singer/guitarist Michael Johnson. Martin opened for groups such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Carpenters, and Toto. He appeared at San Francisco's ''The Boarding House'', among other venues. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on ''Van Dyke and Company'' in 1976.

In the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''., and on ''The Gong Show'', HBO's ''On Location'' and NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). ''SNL'''s audience jumped by a million viewers when he made guest appearances, though despite a common misconception, he was never a cast member. Martin has guest-hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' 15 times, bested only in number of presentations by host Alec Baldwin (who has hosted 16 times as of September 2011). On the show, Martin popularized the air quotes gesture, which uses four fingers to make double quote marks in the air. While on the show Martin became close with several of the cast members, including Gilda Radner. On the day Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, a visibly shaken Martin hosted ''SNL'' and featured footage of himself and Radner together in a 1978 sketch.

His TV appearances in the 1970s led to the release of comedy albums that went platinum. The track "Excuse Me" on his first album, ''Let's Get Small'', helped establish a national catch phrase. His next album, ''A Wild and Crazy Guy'' (1978), was an even bigger success, reaching the No.2 spot on the US sales chart, selling over a million copies. "Just a wild and crazy guy" became another of Martin's known catch phrases. The album featured a character based on a series of ''Saturday Night Live'' sketches where Martin and Dan Aykroyd played "Georgi" and "Yortuk" the Festrunk Brothers, a couple of bumbling Czechoslovak would-be playboys. The album ends with the song "King Tut", sung and written by Martin and backed by the "Toot Uncommons", members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It was later released as a single, reaching No.17 on the US charts in 1978 and selling over a million copies. The song came out during the King Tut craze that accompanied the popular traveling exhibit of the Egyptian king's tomb artifacts. Both albums won Grammys for ''Best Comedy Recording'' in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Martin performed "King Tut" on the April 22, 1978, edition of ''SNL''.

On his comedy albums, Martin's stand-up is self-referential and sometimes self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of "happy feet", banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like venereal disease, and the controversial kitten juggling (he is a master juggler). His style is off-kilter and ironic, and sometimes pokes fun at stand-up comedy traditions, such as Martin opening his act (from ''A Wild and Crazy Guy'') by saying, "I think there's nothing better for a person to come up and do the same thing over and over for two weeks. This is what I enjoy, so I'm going to do the same thing over and over and over [...] I'm going to do the same joke over and over in the same show, it'll be like a new thing." Or: "Hello, I'm Steve Martin, and I'll be out here in a minute." In one comedy routine, used on the ''Comedy Is Not Pretty!'' album, Martin claimed that his real name was "Gern Blanston". The riff took on a life of its own. There is a Gern Blanston website, and for a time a rock band took the moniker as their name. He stopped stand-up in 1981 to concentrate on movies and never went back.

Acting career – film

By the end of the 1970s, Martin had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. But unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was "just an accident" for him; his real goal was to get into film.

Martin's first film was a short, ''The Absent-Minded Waiter'' (1977). The seven-minute-long film, also featuring Buck Henry and Teri Garr, was written by and starred Martin. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as ''Best Short Film, Live Action''. He made his first feature film appearance in the musical ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', where he sang The Beatles' "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". In 1979, Martin co-wrote and starred in his first full-length movie, ''The Jerk'', directed by Carl Reiner. The movie was a huge success, grossing over $100 million on a budget of approximately $4 million.

Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss the possibility of Martin starring in a screwball comedy version of ''Traumnovelle'' (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material, the result of which was 1999's ''Eyes Wide Shut''). Martin was executive producer for ''Domestic Life'', a prime-time television series starring friend Martin Mull, and a late-night series called ''Twilight Theater''. It emboldened Martin to try his hand at his first serious film, ''Pennies from Heaven'', a movie he was anxious to perform in because of his desire to avoid being typecast. To prepare for that film, Martin took acting lessons from director Herbert Ross, and spent months learning how to tap dance. The film was a financial failure; Martin's comment at the time was "I don't know what to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy."

Martin was in three more Reiner-directed comedies after ''The Jerk'': ''Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'' in 1982, ''The Man with Two Brains'' in 1983 and ''All of Me'' in 1984, possibly his most critically acclaimed comic performance to date. In 1986, Martin joined fellow ''Saturday Night Live'' veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in ''¡Three Amigos!'', directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels, and singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It was originally entitled ''The Three Caballeros'' and Martin was to be teamed with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 1986, Martin was in the movie musical film version of the hit Off-Broadway play ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (based on a famous B-movie), playing the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. The film was the first of three films teaming Martin with Rick Moranis. In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes movie ''Planes, Trains & Automobiles.'' That same year, ''Roxanne'', the film adaptation of ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' which Martin co-wrote, won him a Writers Guild of America, East award. It also garnered recognition from Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. In 1988, he performed in the Frank Oz film ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'', a remake of ''Bedtime Story'', alongside Michael Caine.

Martin starred in the Ron Howard film ''Parenthood'', with Moranis in 1989. He later met with Moranis to make the Mafia comedy ''My Blue Heaven'' in 1990. In 1991, Martin starred in and wrote ''L.A. Story'', a romantic comedy, in which the female lead was played by his then-wife Victoria Tennant. Martin also appeared in Lawrence Kasdan's ''Grand Canyon'', in which he played the tightly-wound Hollywood film producer, Davis, who was recovering from a traumatic robbery that left him injured, which was a more serious role for him. Martin also appeared in a remake of the comedy ''Father of the Bride'' in 1991 (followed by a sequel in 1995). He starred in the 1992 comedy ''HouseSitter'', with Goldie Hawn and Dana Delany.

In David Mamet's 1997 thriller, ''The Spanish Prisoner'', Martin played a darker role as a wealthy stranger who takes a suspicious interest in the work of a young businessman (Campbell Scott). He went on to star with Eddie Murphy in the 1999 comedy ''Bowfinger,'' which Martin also wrote. He appeared in a version of ''Waiting for Godot'' as Vladimir, with Robin Williams as Estragon and Bill Irwin as Lucky. In 1998, Martin guest starred with U2 in the 200th episode of ''The Simpsons'' titled "Trash of the Titans", providing the voice for sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson. In 1999, Martin and Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy, ''The Out-of-Towners''. By 2003, Martin ranked 4th on the box office stars list, after starring in ''Bringing Down The House'' and ''Cheaper By The Dozen'', each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. That same year, he also played the villainous Mr. Chairman in the animation/live action blend, ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action''.

Martin wrote and starred in ''Shopgirl'' (2005), based on his own novella (2000), and starred in ''Cheaper by the Dozen 2''. He also starred in the box office hit ''The Pink Panther'' in 2006, standing in Peter Sellers's shoes as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, a role which he reprised in 2009's ''The Pink Panther 2''. In ''Baby Mama'' (2008), he played the founder of a health food company, and in ''It's Complicated'' (2009), he played opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. In 2009, an article in ''The Guardian'' listed Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination.

He appeared with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and JoBeth Williams in the birdwatching comedy ''The Big Year'', in 2011.

Writing

In 1993, Martin wrote his first full length play ''Picasso at the Lapin Agile''. The first reading of the play took place in Beverly Hills, California at Steve Martin's home, with Tom Hanks reading the role of Pablo Picasso and Chris Sarandon reading the role of Albert Einstein. Following this, the play opened at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, and played from October 1993 to May 1994, then went on to run successfully in Los Angeles, New York City and several other US cities. In 2009, the La Grande, Oregon school board refused to allow the play to be performed after several parents complained about the content. In an open letter in the local ''Observer'' newspaper, Martin wrote "I have heard that some in your community have characterized the play as 'people drinking in bars, and treating women as sex objects.' With apologies to William Shakespeare, this is like calling ''Hamlet'' a play about a castle [...] I will finance a non-profit, off-high school campus production [...] so that individuals, outside the jurisdiction of the school board but within the guarantees of freedom of expression provided by the Constitution of the United States can determine whether they will or will not see the play".

Throughout the 1990s, Martin wrote various pieces for ''The New Yorker''. In 2002, he adapted the Carl Sternheim play ''The Underpants'', which ran Off Broadway at Classic Stage Company and in 2008, co-wrote and produced ''Traitor'', starring Don Cheadle. He has also written the novellas, ''Shopgirl'' (2000), and ''The Pleasure of My Company'' (2003), both more wry in tone than raucous. A story of a 28-year-old woman behind the glove counter at the Neiman Marcus department store in Beverly Hills, ''Shopgirl'' was made into a film starring Martin and Claire Danes. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2005 and was featured at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival before going into limited release in the US. In 2007, he published a memoir, ''Born Standing Up'', which ''TIME'' magazine named as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #6, and praising it as "a funny, moving, surprisingly frank memoir." In 2010, he published the novel ''An Object of Beauty.''

Hosting

Martin hosted Academy Awards solo in 2001 and 2003 and with Alec Baldwin in 2010. In 2005, Martin co-hosted ''Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years'', marking the park's anniversary. Disney continued to run the show until March 2009, which now plays in the lobby of ''Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln''.

Music

Martin first picked up the banjo when he was around 17 years of age. Martin has claimed in several interviews and in his autobiography, "Born Standing Up", that he used to take 33 rpm bluegrass records and slow them down to 16 rpm and tune his banjo down, so the notes would sound the same. Martin was able to pick out each note, and perfect his playing.

Martin learned how to play the banjo with help from John McEuen, who later joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. McEuen's brother later managed Martin as well as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Martin did his stand-up routine opening for the band in the early 1970s. He had the band play on his hit song, "King Tut", being credited as "The Toot Uncommons" (as in Tutankhamun).

The banjo was a staple of Martin's 1970s stand-up career, and he periodically poked fun at his love for the instrument. On the ''Comedy Is Not Pretty!'' album he included an all-instrumental jam, titled "Drop Thumb Medley", and played the track on his 1979 concert tour. His final comedy album, ''The Steve Martin Brothers'' (1981), featured one side of Martin's typical stand-up material, with the other side featuring live performances of Steve playing banjo with a bluegrass band.

In 2001, he played banjo on Earl Scruggs's remake of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". The recording was the winner of the Best Country Instrumental Performance category at the following year's Grammys. In 2008, Martin appeared with the band, In the Minds of the Living, during a show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

In 2009, Martin released his first all-music album, ''The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo'' with appearances from stars such as Dolly Parton. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen produced the album.

Martin made his first appearance on The Grand Ole Opry on May 30, 2009. In the ''American Idol'' season eight finals, he performed alongside Michael Sarver and Megan Joy in the song "Pretty Flowers". In June, Martin played banjo along with the Steep Canyon Rangers on ''A Prairie Home Companion'', and began a two-month U.S. tour with the Rangers in September, including an appearances at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, Carnegie Hall and Benaroya Hall in Seattle. In November, they went on to play at the Royal Festival Hall in London with support from Mary Black. In 2010, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers appeared at the New Orleans Jazzfest, Merlefest Bluegrass Festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at Bonnaroo Music Festival, at the ROMP Bluegrass festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, at the Red Butte Garden Concert series and on the BBC's ''Later... with Jools Holland''. Martin performed "Jubilation Day" with the Steep Canyon Rangers on ''The Colbert Report'' on March 21, 2011, on ''Conan'' on May 3, 2011, and on BBC's ''The One Show'' on July 6, 2011. Martin performed a song he wrote called "Me and Paul Revere" in addition to two other songs on the lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, at the "Capitol Fourth Celebration" on July 4, 2011.

Personal life

Martin was romantically involved with actress and singer Bernadette Peters, his costar in the films ''The Jerk'' and ''Pennies from Heaven'', during the 1970s and early 1980s. He married actress Victoria Tennant on November 20, 1986, and the union lasted until 1994. On July 28, 2007, after three years together, Martin married Anne Stringfield, a writer and former staffer for ''The New Yorker'' magazine. Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey presided over the ceremony at Martin's Los Angeles home. Lorne Michaels, creator of ''Saturday Night Live'', was best man. Several of the guests, including close friends Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, comedian Carl Reiner, and magician/actor Ricky Jay were not informed that a wedding ceremony would take place. Instead, they were told they were invited to a party, and were surprised by the nuptials.

Investigators at Berlin's state criminal police office (LKA) think that Martin was one victim of a German art forgery scandal. In July 2004 Martin purchased what he believed to be a 1915 work by the German-Dutch painter Heinrich Campendonk, "Landschaft mit Pferden", or "Landscape With Horses", from a Paris gallery for what should have been a bargain price in the neighborhood of €700,000 (around $850,000 at the time). Before the purchase an expert authenticated the work and identified the painter's signature on a label attached to the back. Fifteen months later Martin put the painting up for sale, and auction house Christie's disposed of it in February 2006 to a Swiss businesswoman for €500,000 – a loss of €200,000. Police believe the fake Campendonk originated from an invented art collection devised by a group of German swindlers caught in 2010. Skillfully forged paintings from this group were sold to French galleries like the one where Martin bought the forgery.

Awards and honors

1969 Emmy Award – The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (with other writers)

1978 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album – ''Let's Get Small'' 1979 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album – ''A Wild and Crazy Guy''. 1989 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from California State University Long Beach 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Earl Scruggs (and others) – banjo performance of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown".

2005 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

2005 Disney Legend award

2007 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors

2009 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for his album ''The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo''.

2011 International Bluegrass Music Association's Entertainer of the Year.

Written works by Martin

''The Jerk'' (1979) (Screenplay written with Carl Gottlieb)

''Cruel Shoes'' (1979) (Essays)

''Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Zig-Zag Woman, Patter for the Floating Lady, WASP'' (1996) (Play)

''L.A. Story and Roxanne: Two Screenplays'' (published together in 1997) (Screenplays)

''Pure Drivel'' (1998) (Stories)

''Bowfinger'' (1999) (Screenplay)

''Eric Fischl : 1970–2000'' (2000) (Afterword)

''Modern Library Humor and Wit Series'' (2000) (Introduction and Series Editor)

''Shopgirl'' (2000) (Novella)

''Kindly Lent Their Owner: The Private Collection of Steve Martin'' (2001) (Art)

''The Underpants: A Play'' (2002) (Play)

''The Pleasure of My Company'' (2003) (Novel)

''The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z'' (2007) (Children's Books illustrated by Roz Chast)

''Born Standing Up'' (2007) (Memoir)

''An Object of Beauty'' (2010) (Novel)

''Late For School'' (2010) (Children's book)

''The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten.: The Tweets of Steve Martin'' (February 21, 2012) (Collection)

Released stand-up shows

''Steve Martin-Live!'' (1986, VHS)

''Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Steve Martin'' (1998, DVD)

Filmography

Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1956	''Disneyland Dream''		Documentary
1977	''The Absent-Minded Waiter''		Short Subject
1978		Dr. Maxwell Edison
	''The Muppet Movie''	Insolent Waiter
		Documentary
''The Jerk''	Navin R. Johnson	Also Writer
1981		Arthur	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1982	''Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid''	Rigby Reardon
1983	''The Man with Two Brains''	Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr
	''The Lonely Guy''	Larry Hubbard
	Roger Cobb	National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1985	''Movers & Shakers''	Fabio Longio
	''Three Amigos''	Lucky Day	Also Writer and Executive Producer
	Orin Scrivello, DDS	Billed as "Special Appearance"
		C.D. Bales	Also Writer and Executive ProducerLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorWriters Guild of America Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
''Planes, Trains and Automobiles''	Neal Page
1988		Freddy Benson
1989		Gil Buckman	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1990		Vinnie Antonelli
	''L.A. Story''	Harris K. Telemacher	Also Writer and Executive Producer
	George Banks
	Davis
	''HouseSitter''	Newton Davis
	Jonas Nightengale
1993		The Brother	Cameo
	''A Simple Twist of Fate''	Michael McCann	Also Writer and Executive Producer
''Mixed Nuts''	Philip
1995	''Father of the Bride Part II''	George Banks
1996	''Sgt. Bilko''	Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko
1997	''The Spanish Prisoner''	Jimmy Dell
1998	''The Prince of Egypt''	Hotep	Voice
		Henry Clark
''Bowfinger''	Bobby Bowfinger	Also writer
''The Venice Project''		Cameo
''Fantasia 2000''	Introductory Host	Disney Re-Release
2000		Charlie Duell
2001		Frank Sangster
	2002	''Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ''		As himself
		Peter Sanderson
''Looney Tunes: Back in Action''	Mr. Chairman
	Tom Baker
	''Jiminy Glick in Lalawood''
	''Shopgirl''	Ray Porter	Also Writer and Producer
''Cheaper by the Dozen 2''	Tom Baker
''Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years''		As himself
2006		Inspector Clouseau	A remake of the earlier series
		Barry
		Writer and Producer
	''The Pink Panther 2''	Inspector Clouseau	Also ScreenplayNominated - Golden Raspberry Award
	Adam Schaffer
2011	''[[The Big Year''	Stu Preissler

Discography

Albums

Album	Year	Peak chart positions		! scope="col" rowspan="2"
		! scope="col" style="width:5.5em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:5.5em;font-size:90%;"
''Let's Get Small''	1977	10	—		*US: Platinum
''A Wild and Crazy Guy''	1978	2	—		*US: 2× Platinum
! scope="row"	1978	5	—		*US: Platinum
''Comedy Is Not Pretty!''	1979	25	—		*US: Gold
''The Steve Martin Brothers''	1981	135	—
! scope="row"	1986	—	—
''The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo''	2009	93	1
''Rare Bird Alert''	2011	43	1

Singles

Single	Year	Peak chart positions
		! scope="col" style="width:5em;font-size:90%;"
"Grandmother's Song"	1977	72
! scope="row"	1978	17
"Cruel Shoes"	1979	91

Music videos

Video	Year	Director
"Jubilation Day"	2011	Ryan Reichenfeld

TV specials

Title	Year	Network
"Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy"	1978	NBC
"All Commercials... A Steve Martin Special"	1980	NBC
"Steve Martin: Comedy is Not Pretty"	1980	NBC
"Steve Martin's Best Show Ever"	1981	NBC
"The Winds of Whoopie"	1983	NBC

References

Sources

Martin, Steve. (2007) ''Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life''. Scribner. ISBN 1-4165-5364-9.

Walker, Morris (1999) ''Steve Martin: The Magic Years''. SPI Books. ISBN 1-56171-980-3.

External links

in 2008. Article and radio file in 2003. Radio file. Video of interview

''Men's Vogue'' article

Disney Legends profile

Category:1945 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from Texas Category:American banjoists Category:American buskers Category:American comedy musicians Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:American film actors Category:American memoirists Category:American screenwriters Category:American stand-up comedians Category:California State University, Long Beach alumni Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:Mark Twain Prize recipients Category:People from Garden Grove, California Category:People from Inglewood, California Category:People from Waco, Texas Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners

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Name	Tutankhamun
Alt name	Tutankhamen, Tutankhaten, Tutankhamon possibly Nibhurrereya (as referenced in the Amarna letters)
Reign	ca. 1332–1323 BCE
Dynasty	18th Dynasty
Predecessor	Smenkhkare
Successor	Ay
Spouse	Ankhesenamun
Notes	See Tutankhamun#Names
Children	two daughters
Father	Akhenaten
Mother	unidentified mummy, "The Younger Lady"
Birth date	ca. 1341 BCE
Death date	ca. 1323 BCE (aged ca. 18)
Burial	KV62
Monuments	}}

Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with ''Tutenkh-'', ''-amen'', ''-amon''), Egyptian '''', ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled ca. 1332 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living Image of Aten", while Tutankhamun means "Living Image of Amun". In hieroglyphs, the name Tutankhamun was typically written Amen-tut-ankh, because of a scribal custom that placed a divine name at the beginning of a phrase to show appropriate reverence. He is possibly also the ''Nibhurrereya'' of the Amarna letters, and likely the 18th dynasty king ''Rathotis'' who, according to Manetho, an ancient historian, had reigned for nine years — a figure which conforms with Flavius Josephus's version of Manetho's ''Epitome''.

The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter and George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun's nearly intact tomb received worldwide press coverage. It sparked a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's burial mask remains the popular symbol. Exhibits of artifacts from his tomb have toured the world. In February 2010, the results of DNA tests confirmed that he was the son of Akhenaten (mummy KV55) and his sister/wife (mummy KV35YL), whose name is unknown but whose remains are positively identified as "The Younger Lady" mummy found in KV35.

Life

Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) and one of Akhenaten's sisters. As a prince he was known as Tutankhaten. He ascended to the throne in 1333 BCE, at the age of nine or ten, taking the reign name of Tutankhamun. His wet-nurse was a woman called Maia, known from her tomb at Saqqara.

When he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenepatan, who later changed her name to Ankhesenamun. They had two daughters, both stillborn. CT studies released in 2011 revealed that one daughter died at 5–6 months of pregnancy while the other at 9 months of pregnancy. No evidence was found of congenital anomalies or the apparent cause of death in either mummy.

Reign

Given his age, the king probably had very powerful advisers, presumably including General Horemheb, the Vizier Ay, and Maya, the "Overseer of the Treasury". Horemheb records that the king appointed him 'lord of the land' as hereditary prince to maintain law. He also noted his ability to calm the young king when his temper flared.

Domestic policy

In his third regnal year, Tutankhamun reversed several changes made during his father's reign. He ended the worship of the god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy. The ban on the cult of Amun was lifted and traditional privileges were restored to its priesthood. The capital was moved back to Thebes and the city of Akhetaten abandoned. This is also when he changed his name to Tutankhamun.

As part of his restoration, the king initiated building projects, in particular at Thebes and Karnak, where he dedicated a temple to Amun. Many monuments were erected, and an inscription on his tomb door declares the king had "spent his life in fashioning the images of the gods". The traditional festivals were now celebrated again, including those related to the Apis Bull, Horemakhet, and Opet. His restoration stela says:

The temples of the gods and goddesses ... were in ruins. Their shrines were deserted and overgrown. Their sanctuaries were as non-existent and their courts were used as roads ... the gods turned their backs upon this land ... If anyone made a prayer to a god for advice he would never respond.

Foreign policy

The country was economically weak and in turmoil following the reign of Akhenaten. Diplomatic relations with other kingdoms had been neglected, and Tutankhamun sought to restore them, in particular with the Mitanni. Evidence of his success is suggested by the gifts from various countries found in his tomb. Despite his efforts for improved relations, battles with Nubians and Asiatics were recorded in his mortuary temple at Thebes. His tomb contained body armour and folding stools appropriate for military campaigns. However, given his youth and physical disabilities, which seemed to require the use of a cane in order to walk (he died at age 18), historians speculate that he did not take part personally in these battles.

Health and appearance

Tutankhamun was slight of build, and was roughly tall. He had large front incisors and the overbite characteristic of the Thutmosid royal line to which he belonged. He also had a pronounced dolichocephalic (elongated) skull, although it was within normal bounds and highly unlikely to have been pathological. Given the fact that many of the royal depictions of Akhenaten often featured such an elongated head, it is likely an exaggeration of a family trait, rather than a distinct abnormality. The research also showed that the Tutankhamun had "a slightly cleft palate" and possibly a mild case of scoliosis, a medical condition in which the spine is curved from side to side.

Cause of death

There are no surviving records of Tutankhamun's final days. What caused Tutankhamun's death has been the subject of considerable debate. Major studies have been conducted in an effort to establish the cause of death.

Although there is some speculation that Tutankhamun was assassinated, the consensus is that his death was accidental. A CT scan taken in 2005 shows that he had badly broken his leg shortly before his death, and that the leg had become infected. DNA analysis conducted in 2010 showed the presence of malaria in his system. It is believed that these two conditions (malaria and leiomyomata) combined, led to his death.

Probable product of incest

According to the September 2010 issue of ''National Geographic'' magazine, Tutankhamun was the result of an incestuous relationship and, because of that, may have suffered from several genetic defects that contributed to his early death. For years, scientists have tried to unravel ancient clues as to why the boy king of Egypt, who reigned for 10 years, died at the age of 19. Several theories have been put forth; one was that he was killed by a blow to the head. Another put the blame on a broken leg.

Various diseases invoked as possibly explanation to his early demise included Marfan syndrome, Wilson-Turner X-linked mental retardation syndrome, Fröhlich syndrome (adiposogenital dystrophy), Klinefelter syndrome, androgen insensitivity syndrome, aromatase excess syndrome in conjunction with sagittal craniosynostosis syndrome, and Antley-Bixler syndrome or one of its variants. In June 2010, German scientists said they believed there was evidence that he died of sickle cell disease. However, other experts have rejected the hypothesis of homozygous sickle cell disease based on logics based on survival beyond 5 year age and the location of the osteonecrosis which is characteristic of Freiberg-Kohler syndrome rather than sickle-cell disease.

Research conducted by archaeologists, radiologists, and geneticists who started performing CT scans on Tutankhamun in 2005 found that he was not killed by a blow to the head, as previously thought. That same team began doing DNA research on Tutankhamun's mummy, as well as the mummified remains of other members of his family, in 2008. DNA tests finally put to rest questions about Tutankhamun's lineage, proving that his father was Akhenaten, but that his mother was not one of Akhenaten's known wives. His mother was one of Akhenaten's five sisters, although it is not known which one. New CT images discovered congenital flaws, which are more common among the children of incest. Siblings are more likely to pass on twin copies of harmful genes, which is why children of incest more commonly manifest genetic defects. It is suspected he also had a partially cleft palate, another congenital defect.

The team was able to establish with a probability of better than 99.99 percent that Amenhotep III was the father of the individual in KV55, who was in turn the father of Tutankhamun. The DNA of the so-called Younger Lady (KV35YL), found lying beside Queen Tiye in the alcove of KV35, matched that of the boy king. Her DNA proved that, like Akhenaten, she was a child of Amenhotep III and Tiye; thus, Tutankhamun's parents were brother and sister. Queen Tiye held much political influence at court and acted as an adviser to her son after the death of her husband. Some geneticists dispute these findings, however, and "complain that the team used inappropriate analysis techniques."

While the data are still incomplete, the study suggests that one of the mummified fetuses found in Tutankhamun's tomb is the daughter of Tutankhamun himself, and the other fetus is probably his child as well. So far only partial data for the two female mummies from KV21 has been obtained. One of them, KV21A, may well be the infants' mother and thus, Tutankhamun's wife, Ankhesenamun. It is known from history that she was the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, and thus likely to be her husband's half-sister. Another consequence of inbreeding can be children whose genetic defects do not allow them to be brought to term.

The research team consisted of Egyptian scientists Yehia Gad and Somaia Ismail from the National Research Centre in Cairo. The CT scans were conducted under the direction of Ashraf Selim and Sahar Saleem of the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University. Three international experts served as consultants: Carsten Pusch of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany; Albert Zink of the EURAC-Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy; and Paul Gostner of the Central Hospital Bolzano.. STR analysis based DNA fingerprinting analysis combined with the other techniques have rejected the hypothesis of gynecomastia and craniosynostoses (eg, Antley-Bixler syndrome) or Marfan syndrome, but an accumulation of malformations in Tutankhamun's family was evident. Several pathologies including Köhler disease II were diagnosed in Tutankhamun; none alone would have caused death. Genetic testing for STEVOR, AMA1, or MSP1 genes specific for Plasmodium falciparum revealed indications of malaria tropica in 4 mummies, including Tutankhamun's. However their exact contribution to the causality of his death still is highly debated.

As stated above, the team discovered DNA from several strains of a parasite proving he was infected with the most severe strain of malaria several times in his short life. Malaria can trigger circulatory shock or cause a fatal immune response in the body, either of which can lead to death. If Tutankhamun did suffer from a bone disease which was crippling, it may not have been fatal. "Perhaps he struggled against others [congenital flaws] until a severe bout of malaria or a leg broken in an accident added one strain too many to a body that could no longer carry the load," wrote Zahi Hawass, archeologist and head of Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquity involved in the research.

Tomb

Tutankhamun was buried in a tomb that was small relative to his status. His death may have occurred unexpectedly, before the completion of a grander royal tomb, so that his mummy was buried in a tomb intended for someone else. This would preserve the observance of the customary seventy days between death and burial.

King Tutankhamun's mummy still rests in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. On November 4, 2007, 85 years to the day after Carter's discovery, the 19-year-old pharaoh went on display in his underground tomb at Luxor, when the linen-wrapped mummy was removed from its golden sarcophagus to a climate-controlled glass box. The case was designed to prevent the heightened rate of decomposition caused by the humidity and warmth from tourists visiting the tomb.

Discovery of tomb

Tutankhamun seems to have faded from public consciousness in Ancient Egypt within a short time after his death, and remained virtually unknown until the 1920s. His tomb was robbed at least twice in antiquity, but based on the items taken (including perishable oils and perfumes) and the evidence of restoration of the tomb after the intrusions, it seems clear that these robberies took place within several months at most of the initial burial. Eventually the location of the tomb was lost because it had come to be buried by stone chips from subsequent tombs, either dumped there or washed there by floods. In the years that followed, some huts for workers were built over the tomb entrance, clearly not knowing what lay beneath. When at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty the Valley of the Kings burials were systematically dismantled, the burial of Tutankhamun was overlooked, presumably because knowledge of it had been lost and his name may have been forgotten.

Exhibitions

Relics from Tutankhamun's tomb are among the most traveled artifacts in the world. They have been to many countries, but probably the best-known exhibition tour was ''The Treasures of Tutankhamun'' tour, which ran from 1972 to 1979. This exhibition was first shown in London at the British Museum from March 30 until September 30, 1972. More than 1.6 million visitors came to see the exhibition, some queuing for up to eight hours and it was the most popular exhibition in the Museum's history. The exhibition moved on to many other countries, including the USA, USSR, Japan, France, Canada, and West Germany. The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized the U.S. exhibition, which ran from November 17, 1976 through April 15, 1979. More than eight million attended.

In 2004, the tour of Tutankhamun funerary objects entitled ''Tutankhamen: The Golden Hereafter'', consisting of fifty artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb and seventy funerary goods from other 18th Dynasty tombs, began in Basle, Switzerland and went on to Bonn Germany on the second leg of the tour. This European tour was organised by the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), and the Egyptian Museum in cooperation with the Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig. Deutsche Telekom sponsored the Bonn exhibition.

In 2005, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, in partnership with Arts and Exhibitions International and the National Geographic Society, launched a tour of Tutankhamun treasures and other 18th Dynasty funerary objects, this time called ''Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs''. It features the same exhibits as ''Tutankhamen: The Golden Hereafter'' in a slightly different format. It was expected to draw more than three million people.

The exhibition started in Los Angeles, California, then moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Chicago and Philadelphia. The exhibition then moved to London before finally returning to Egypt in August 2008. An encore of the exhibition in the United States ran at the Dallas Museum of Art from October 2008 to May 2009. The tour continued to other U.S. cities. After Dallas the exhibition moved to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, followed by the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City.

In 2011 the exhibition visited Australia for the first time, opening at the Melbourne Museum in April for its only Australian stop before Egypt's treasures return to Cairo in December, 2011.

The exhibition includes 80 exhibits from the reigns of Tutankhamun's immediate predecessors in the Eighteenth dynasty, such as Hatshepsut, whose trade policies greatly increased the wealth of that dynasty and enabled the lavish wealth of Tutankhamun's burial artifacts, as well as 50 from Tutankhamun's tomb. The exhibition does not include the gold mask that was a feature of the 1972-1979 tour, as the Egyptian government has determined that the mask is too fragile to withstand travel and will never again leave the country.

A separate exhibition called ''Tutankhamun and the World of the Pharaohs'' began at the Ethnological Museum in Vienna from March 9 to September 28, 2008, showing a further 140 treasures. Renamed ''Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs'', this exhibition began a tour of the US and Canada in Atlanta on November 15, 2008. It is scheduled to finish in Seattle on January 6, 2013.

Curse

For many years, rumors of a "Curse of the Pharaohs" (probably fueled by newspapers seeking sales at the time of the discovery) persisted, emphasizing the early death of some of those who had first entered the tomb. However, a recent study of journals and death records indicates no statistical difference between the age of death of those who entered the tomb and those on the expedition who did not.

Aftermath of death

Although it is unknown how he met his death, the Amarna letters indicate that Tutankhamun's wife, recently widowed, wrote to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, asking if she could marry one of his sons, saying that she was very afraid, but would not take one of her own people as husband. However, the son was killed before reaching his new wife. Shortly afterward Ay married Tutankhamun's widow and became Pharaoh as a war between the two countries was fought, and Egypt was left defeated.

Significance

Tutankhamun was nine years old when he became pharaoh and reigned for approximately ten years. In historical terms, Tutankhamun's significance stems from his rejection of the radical religious innovations introduced by his predecessor and father, Akhenaten. Secondly, his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was discovered by Carter almost completely intact — the most complete ancient Egyptian royal tomb ever found. As Tutankhamun began his reign at such an early age, his vizier and eventual successor Ay was probably making most of the important political decisions during Tutankhamun's reign.

Tutankhamun was one of the few kings worshiped as a god and honored with a cult-like following during his lifetime. A stela discovered at Karnak and dedicated to Amun-Re and Tutankhamun indicates that the king could be appealed to in his deified state for forgiveness and to free the petitioner from an ailment caused by wrongdoing. Temples of his cult were built as far away as in Kawa and Faras in Nubia. The title of the sister of the Viceroy of Kush included a reference to the deified king, indicative of the universality of his cult.

In popular culture

If Tutankhamun is the world's best known pharaoh, it is largely because his tomb is among the best preserved, and his image and associated artifacts the most-exhibited. As Jon Manchip White writes, in his foreword to the 1977 edition of Carter's ''The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun'', "The pharaoh who in life was one of the least esteemed of Egypt's kings has become in death the most renowned."

The discoveries in the tomb were prominent news in the 1920s. Tutankhamen came to be called by a modern neologism, "King Tut". Ancient Egyptian references became common in popular culture, including Tin Pan Alley songs; the most popular of the latter was "Old King Tut" by Harry Von Tilzer from 1923, which was recorded by prominent artists of the time as Jones & Hare and Sophie Tucker. "King Tut" became the name of products, businesses, and even the pet dog of U.S. President Herbert Hoover.

The interest in this tomb and its alleged "curse" also led to horror movies featuring a vengeful mummy.

Film and television

''We Want Our Mummy'', a 1939 film by the Three Stooges. In it, the slapstick comedy trio explores the tomb of the midget King Rutentuten (pronounced "rootin'-tootin'") and his Queen, Hotsy Totsy. A decade later, they were crooked used-chariot salesmen in ''Mummy's Dummies'', in which they ultimately assist a different King Rootentootin (Vernon Dent) with a toothache.

King Tut, played by Victor Buono, was a villain on the ''Batman'' TV series which aired from 1966 to 1968. Mild-mannered Egyptologist William Omaha McElroy, after suffering a concussion, came to believe he was the reincarnation of Tutankhamun. His response to this knowledge was to embark upon a crime spree that required him to fight against the "Caped Crusaders", Batman and Robin.

The Discovery Kids animated series ''Tutenstein'' stars a fictional mummy based on Tutankhamun, named Tutankhensetamun and nicknamed Tutenstein in his afterlife. He is depicted as a lazy and spoiled 10-year-old mummy boy who must guard a magical artifact called the Scepter of Was from the evil Egyptian god Set.

The first episode of the 2005 BBC series ''Egypt: Rediscovering a Lost World'' focuses on the life and death of Tutankhamun and the serendipitous discovery of his tomb.

''La Reine Soleil'' (2007 animated film by Philippe Leclerc), features Akhenaten, Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamun), Akhesa (Ankhesenepaten, later Ankhesenamun), Nefertiti, and Horemheb in a complex struggle pitting the priests of Amun against Akhenaten's intolerant monotheism.

Other media

"King Tut", a whimsical 1978 song by (American comedian) "Steve Martin and the Toot Uncommons" (a backup group consisting of members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band).

The 1981 arcade game ''Tutankham'' revolves around King Tutankhamun.

1989 television networks often advertised commercials for ''King Kuts'' dog food, complete with Anubis-styled canine animation and music to the tune of "Camel Caravan." The can label was also adorned with themed hieroglyphs.

The mummy of Tutankhamun is depicted as a villain in Raj Comics's ''Nagraj'', a Hindi superhero comicbook. In this series, his mask is the source of his power.

For "''Transformers''" the Decepticon character Frenzy repeats the name, "Tutankhamun."

The video game ''Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy'' features a fictional representation of Prince Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun is the victim of an unnamed magical ritual which results in almost instantaneous mummification and extraction of what appears to be his "life force". In the instruction manual, the Mummy is described as young, inexperienced and naive.

The novel ''Tutankhamun'' (2008) by novelist Nick Drake [not the musician] takes place during the reign of Tutankhamun and gives a possible explanation for his injury and death (and the aftermath) set amid a murder mystery.

The novel ''The Lost Queen of Egypt'' (1937) by novelist Lucile Morrison is about Ankhsenpaaten/ Ankhesenamun, the wife of Tutankhamun. He is a major character, coming in about midway in the story. Here, his name is spelled as 'Tutankhamon.' It's strongly hinted that he was murdered.

Names

At the reintroduction of traditional religious practice, his name changed. It is transliterated as twt-ˤnḫ-ỉmn ḥq3-ỉwnw-šmˤ, and according to modern Egyptological convention is written Tutankhamun Hekaiunushema, meaning "Living image of Amun, ruler of Upper Heliopolis". On his ascension to the throne, Tutankhamun took a ''praenomen''. This is transliterated as nb-ḫprw-rˤ, and, again, according to modern Egyptological convention is written Nebkheperure, meaning "Lord of the forms of Re". The name ''Nibhurrereya'' in the Amarna letters may be closer to how his praenomen was actually pronounced.

References

Further reading

Andritsos, John. Social Studies of ancient Egypt: Tutankhamun. Australia 2006

Booth, Charlotte. ''The Boy Behind the Mask''", Oneworld, ISBN 978-1-85168-544-8

Brier, Bob. ''The Murder of Tutankhamun: A True Story''. Putnam Adult, April 13, 1998, ISBN 0-425-16689-9 (paperback)/ISBN 0-399-14383-1 (hardcover)/ISBN 0-613-28967-6 (School & Library Binding)

Carter, Howard and Arthur C. Mace, ''The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun''. Courier Dover Publications, June 1, 1977, ISBN 0-486-23500-9 ''The semi-popular account of the discovery and opening of the tomb written by the archaeologist responsible''

Desroches-Noblecourt, Christiane. Sarwat Okasha (Preface), ''Tutankhamun: Life and Death of a Pharaoh''. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1963, ISBN 0-8212-0151-4 (1976 reprint, hardcover) /ISBN 0-14-011665-6 (1990 reprint, paperback)

Edwards, I.E.S., ''Treasures of Tutankhamun''. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976, ISBN 0-345-27349-4 (paperback)/ISBN 0-670-72723-7 (hardcover)

Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, ''The Mummy of Tutankhamun: the CT Scan Report'', as printed in ''Ancient Egypt'', June/July 2005.

Haag, Michael. "The Rough Guide to Tutankhamun: The King: The Treasure: The Dynasty". London 2005. ISBN 1-84353-554-8.

Hoving, Thomas. ''The search for Tutankhamun: The untold story of adventure and intrigue surrounding the greatest modern archeological find''. New York: Simon & Schuster, October 15, 1978, ISBN 0-671-24305-5 (hardcover)/ISBN 0-8154-1186-3 (paperback) ''This book details a number of interesting anecdotes about the discovery and excavation of the tomb''

James, T. G. H. ''Tutankhamun''. New York: Friedman/Fairfax, September 1, 2000, ISBN 1-58663-032-6 (hardcover) ''A large-format volume by the former Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum, filled with colour illustrations of the funerary furnishings of Tutankhamun, and related objects''

Neubert, Otto. ''Tutankhamun and the Valley of the Kings''. London: Granada Publishing Limited, 1972, ISBN 583-12141-1 (paperback) ''First hand account of the discovery of the Tomb''

Reeves, C. Nicholas. ''The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure''. London: Thames & Hudson, November 1, 1990, ISBN 0-500-05058-9 (hardcover)/ISBN 0-500-27810-5 (paperback) ''Fully covers the complete contents of his tomb''

Rossi, Renzo. Tutankhamun. Cincinnati (Ohio) 2007 ISBN 978-0-7153-2763-0, a work all illustrated and coloured.

External links

Grim secrets of Pharaoh's city BBC News

Tutankhamun and the Age of the Golden Pharaohs website

''The Independent'', October 20, 2007: "A 3,000-year-old mystery is finally solved: Tutankhamun died in a hunting accident". See also video at ''The-Maker.net''

British Museum Tutankhamun highlight

King Tut: Ancient Egypt Unveiled - slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Category:Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt Category:Amarna Period Category:Atenism Category:Curses Category:Historical deletion in ancient Egypt Category:Ancient child rulers Category:Ancient Egyptian mummies Category:1340s BC births Category:1320s BC deaths

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name	Johnny Carson
birth name	John William Carson
birth date	October 23, 1925
birth place	Corning, Iowa, U.S.
death date	January 23, 2005
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
nationality	American
active	1950–1994
genre	Satire, sketch comedy, improvisational comedy
subject	current events, American politics, American culture, pop culture
signature	Johnny Carson Signature.svg
influences	Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Laurel and Hardy, Red Skelton, George Burns, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Don Rickles, Michael Gough, Bob Newhart
influenced	Ray Combs, Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin, Bill Hicks, Jay Leno, David Letterman, George Lopez, Bill Maher, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling
spouse	Jody Morrill Wolcott (1949–1963)Joanne Copeland (1963–1972)Joanna Holland (1972–1985)Alexis Mass (1987–2005, his death)
notable work	Host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''

}} John William "Johnny" Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host and comedian, known for thirty years as host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, including the Governor Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the ''Television Academy Hall of Fame'' in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous ''Tonight Show'' hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Late night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon have all cited Carson's influence on their late-night talk shows, which resemble his in format and tone.

Early life and career

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, on October 23, 1925, to Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a power company manager, and Ruth Hook Carson. He grew up in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. At the age of twelve, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at fourteen and was paid $3; many other performances at local picnics and country fairs followed.

Carson joined the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943, received V-12 officer training at Columbia University and Millsaps College, and continued to perform magic. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the USS ''Pennsylvania'' in the Pacific. He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troopship when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war. Carson served as a communications officer in charge of decoding encrypted messages and said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal.

Carson then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he joined Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, continued performing magic (now paid $25 per appearance), wrote a thesis on the structure of Jack Benny's comedy routines, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.

He began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha, Nebraska. Carson soon hosted a morning television program called ''The Squirrel's Nest''. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would allegedly report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders that he had lampooned on the radio.

In 1951 Carson visited California and unsuccessfully sought work. The wife of one of the political figures he spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles and referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in southern California, and later that year Carson went to work at CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT. He would later joke that he owed his success to the birds of Omaha. In 1953 comic Red Skelton — a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, ''Carson's Cellar'' (1951 to 1953) on KNXT — asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954 Skelton during rehearsal accidentally knocked himself unconscious an hour before his live show began, and Carson successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny, however, predicted that Carson would have a successful career as a comedian.

Carson hosted several shows besides ''Carson's Cellar'', including the game show ''Earn Your Vacation'' (1954) and the variety show ''The Johnny Carson Show'' (1955–1956). He was a regular panelist on the original ''To Tell the Truth'' until 1962. After the prime time ''The Johnny Carson Show'' failed, he moved to New York City to host ''Who Do You Trust?'' (1957–1962), formerly known as ''Do You Trust Your Wife?''. In 1958 he appeared as a guest star in an episode entitled "Do You Trust Your Wife" on NBC's short-lived variety show, ''The Polly Bergen Show''. It was on ''Who Do You Trust?'' that Carson met his future sidekick, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime would hurt his career, ''Who Do You Trust?'' was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests, and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his five years there.

''The Tonight Show''

NBC's ''Tonight'' was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show ''Today''. Originating in 1953 with host Steve Allen, ''Tonight'' was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's "Broadway Open House". ''Tonight'' was successful, and when Allen moved on to prime-time comedy-variety shows, Jack Paar replaced him as host of ''Tonight''. Paar left the show in 1962.

Johnny Carson's success on ''Whom Do You Trust?'' led NBC to invite him to take over ''Tonight'' a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 1 3/4 hours (105 minutes) daily, but NBC asked him again after Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all declined. Carson accepted in March 1962 but had six months left on his ABC contract, during which NBC used multiple guest hosts including Merv Griffin.

Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became host of ''Tonight'' (later becoming ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'') on October 1, 1962, and, after a difficult first year, overcame his fears. While ''Tonight'' under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:

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McMahon followed Carson from ''Whom Do You Trust?'' as his announcer and sidekick. McMahon's opening line, "Heeeere's Johnny" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the studio orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Bob Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.) Johnny enjoyed what he called the "Carson Kits," or beautiful girls, to adorn his show. Theona Bryant, a favorite, was a model. The other "Carson Cuties" were Phyllis Applegate, Norma Brooks, and Sally Todd.

Paul Anka wrote the theme song, ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed, "It's Really Love," and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over ''The Tonight Show'', Carson wrote lyrics for the song and thus claimed 50% of the song's performance royalties (even though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first ''Tonight Show'' and it was used without interruption through to his very last broadcast in 1992.

The show was originally produced in New York City, with occasional stints in California. It was not live in its early years, although during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). The program had been done "live on tape" (uninterrupted unless a problem occurred) since the Jack Paar days. Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems. If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing "Tea for Two" and Carson danced, to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom mic close to his face and announce ''"Attention K-Mart shoppers!"''

Move to Burbank

In May 1972, the show moved from New York to Burbank, California. Carson often joked about "beautiful downtown Burbank" and referred to "beautiful downtown Bakersfield," which prompted Mayor Mary K. Shell to chide Carson and invite him to her city to see improvements made during the early 1980s.

After July 1971, Carson stopped doing shows five days a week. Instead, on Monday nights there was a guest host, leaving Carson to do the other four each week. Shows were taped in Burbank at 5:30 pm (8:30 pm Eastern time) to be shown that evening at 11:30 pm Eastern time. On September 8, 1980, at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes; Tom Snyder's ''Tomorrow'' added a half hour to fill the vacant time. Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986. ''The Tonight Show'' returned to using rotating guest hosts, including comic George Carlin. Jay Leno then became the exclusive guest host in fall 1987. Leno joked that although other guest hosts had upped their fees, he had kept his low, assuring himself more bookings. Eventually, Monday night was for Leno, Tuesday for ''The Best of Carson''—rebroadcasts usually dating from a year earlier but occasionally from the 1970s.

Although Carson's work schedule became more attenuated, ''Tonight'' remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise; by the mid-1970s he had become the highest-paid personality on television,earning about $4 million a year ($}} today), not including nightclub appearances and his other businesses. He refused many offers to appear in films, including title roles in ''The Thomas Crown Affair'' and Gene Wilder's role in ''Blazing Saddles''.

In recognition of his 25th anniversary on ''The Tonight Show'', Carson received a personal Peabody Award, the Board saying he had "become an American institution, a household word, [and] the most widely quoted American"; they also said they "felt the time had come to recognize the contributions that Johnny has made to television, to humor, and to America."

Comic characters

Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show, including

Art Fern, the "Tea Time Movie" announcer, whose theme song was "Hooray for Hollywood." Carson once admitted on camera that this was his favorite character, based on late-afternoon TV hosts who would deliver commercials throughout the movie. Each sketch usually featured three long commercials interrupted by silent, four-second clips from antique films. When the camera returned from each clip, Art was always caught off-guard and immediately reminded viewers that they were watching a film favorite. The movies always had unlikely casts and even less likely titles: "Slim Pickens, Patti Page, Duke Wayne, and Charlton Heston in another classic Western: 'Kiss My Saddle Horn'!" Carson originally played the fast-talking huckster in his own voice (as Honest Bernie Schlock or Ralph Willie), and finally settled on a nasal, high-pitched, smarmy drone, reminiscent of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald Van Gleason III" character. The character, now permanently known as Art Fern, wore a lavish toupee, loud jackets, and a pencil mustache. Actress Carol Wayne became famous for her 100-plus appearances (1971–1982) as Art's buxom assistant, the Matinée Lady. While Art gave his spiel, she would enter the stage behind him. Art would react to her attractive body, wincing loudly, "''Ho'' — leeeee!" After Carol Wayne's death in 1985, Carson kept Art Fern off the air for most of the next year, and finally hired Danuta Wesley and then Teresa Ganzel to play the Matinée Lady. Carson also used these sketches to poke fun at the intricate Los Angeles interstate system, using a pointer and map to give confusing directions to shoppers often including points where he would unfold the cardboard map to point out, via the appropriate picture, when the shopper would arrive at "the fork in the road." Another freeway routine in the same theme centered around the fictional "Slauson Cutoff." Art Fern would advise drivers to take a series of freeways until they reached the Slauson Cutoff, and would then advise them to "Get out of your car, cut off your slauson, get back in your car," often followed by peals of laughter from the audience, led by McMahon.

Carnac the Magnificent, a turbaned psychic who could answer questions before seeing them. (This same routine had been done by Carson's predecessor, Steve Allen, as "The Answer Man." The Carnac character and routine closely resembled Ernie Kovacs' character "Mr. Question Man.") Carnac had a trademark entrance in which he always turned the wrong direction when coming onto stage and then "tripped" on the step up to Carson's desk. (In one episode, technicians rigged Carson's desk to fall apart when Carnac fell into it.) These comedic missteps were an indication of Carnac's true prescient abilities. Ed McMahon would hand Carnac a series of envelopes, said to have been "sitting inside a mayonaisse jar on Funk & Wagnall's porch since noon today," containing questions. Carnac would place each envelope against his forehead and predict the answer, such as "Gatorade." Then he would read the question: "What does an alligator get on welfare?" Some of the jokes were feeble, and McMahon used pauses after terrible puns and audience groans to make light of Carnac's lack of comic success ("Carnac must be used to quiet surroundings"), prompting Carson to return an equal insult. McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the ''last'' envelope," at which the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May your sister elope with a camel!", or the most famous, "may the bird of paradise fly up your nose!".

Floyd R. Turbo, American (with no pause between words). A stereotypical redneck wearing a plaid hunting coat and cap, who offered "editorial responses" to left-leaning causes or news events. Railing against women's rights in the workplace, for example, Turbo would shout, "This raises the question: kiss my Dictaphone!"

Aunt Blabby, a cantankerous and sometimes amorous old lady, invariably being interviewed by straight man Ed McMahon about elder affairs. McMahon would innocently use a common expression like "check out," only to have Aunt Blabby warn him, "Don't say 'check out' to an old person!" Aunt Blabby was an obvious copy of Jonathan Winters’ most famous creation, Maude Frickert, including her black spinster dress and wig.

El Mouldo, a mentalist, who would attempt to perform mind-reading and mind-over-matter feats, all of which failed. Often his tricks would include an attempt to bilk money from Ed McMahon or would end with him begging the audience for a dollar, or at least bus fare.

The Maharishi, whose theme song was "Song of India". This frizzy-haired "holy man" spoke in a high-pitched, tranquil tone, greeted announcer McMahon with a flower, and answered philosophical questions.

Carson uncensored on satellite

Even though Carson's program was based in Burbank, NBC's editing and production services for the program were located in New York, resulting in the requirement that Carson's program be transmitted from Burbank to New York. Beginning in 1976, NBC used the Satcom 2 satellite to do this, feeding the live taping (which usually took place in the early evening) directly to New York, where it would be edited prior to the normal broadcast. This live feed lasted usually from two to two-and-a-half hours a night, and was uncensored and commercial-free. During the commercial breaks the audio and picture would be left on, capturing at times risque language and other events that would certainly be edited out later going out over the feed.

At the same time, however, satellite ground stations owned by private individuals began to appear, and some managed to find the live feed. Satellite dish owners began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving viewers knowledge of things they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this, and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave landline transmission until the show's editing facilities were finally moved to Burbank.

Effect on popular culture

Carson's show launched the careers of many performers, especially comedians. Getting Carson to laugh and then to be called to the guest chair was the highest honor. Most notable among these were Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Maher, Ellen Degeneres, Tim Allen, Drew Carey, and Roseanne Barr. Carson was successor to ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing a vaudeville-style variety show.

In 1966, Carson single-handedly popularized Milton Bradley's game Twister when he played it with actress Eva Gabor. Not widely known at the time, the game skyrocketed in popularity after the broadcast.

Controversies and feuds

Carson often made routine jokes at the expense of other celebrities. Some years after a high-profile feud between Carson and Wayne Newton, the latter appeared on ''Larry King Live'', declaring that "Johnny Carson is a mean-spirited human being. And there are people that he has hurt that people will never know about. And for some reason at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me. And I refused to have it."

One veteran NBC actor, Raymond Burr, became riled over Carson's continuing fat jokes and refused to appear on "The Tonight Show".

Carson reportedly loathed what appeared to represent disloyalty among friends. The comedian was displeased when former ''Tonight Show'' guest hosts John Davidson and Joan Rivers got their own talk shows. Rivers's show on the Fox Network directly competed with Carson during the 1986-1987 season and then ended. On June 24, 2009, following Ed McMahon's death, Rivers lauded McMahon on ''Larry King Live'' but said that after she got her own show Carson never spoke to her again.

Carson successfully sued a manufacturer of portable toilets who wanted to call its product "Here's Johnny".

Business ventures

Carson was a major investor in the ultimately failed DeLorean Motor Company.

Carson was head of a group of investors who purchased and operated two television stations. The first was KVVU-TV in Henderson, Nevada, an independent station serving Las Vegas, acquired by the Carson group in 1979. Shortly after buying the station, KVVU was rumored to acquiring an NBC affiliation as then long-time affiliate KORK-TV was in the process of being replaced by KVBC, but it never happened. Carson's second station, independent KNAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico was purchased in 1982. Unlike the Las Vegas operation, KNAT faced stiffer competition for top-quality syndicated programming. Carson sold both of his stations between 1985 and 1986, with KVVU going to Meredith Corporation and KNAT being sold to Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Carson's other business ventures included the successful Johnny Carson Apparel, Inc.—his turtlenecks became a fashion trend—and a failed restaurant franchise.

Retirement

Carson retired from show business on May 22, 1992, at age 65, when he stepped down as host of ''The Tonight Show''. His farewell was a major media event, often emotional for Carson, his colleagues, and the audiences, and stretched over several nights. He said the following on his 4,531st and final ''Tonight Show'':

NBC gave the role of host to the show's then-current permanent guest host, Jay Leno. Leno and David Letterman were soon competing on separate networks.

Post-retirement appearances

At the end of his final ''Tonight Show'' appearance, Carson indicated that he might, if so inspired, return with a new project, but instead chose to go into full retirement, rarely giving interviews and declining to participate in NBC's 75th anniversary celebrations. He made the occasional cameo appearance, including voicing himself on a 1993 episode of ''The Simpsons'' ("Krusty Gets Kancelled"), telephoning David Letterman on a November 1993 episode of ''Late Show with David Letterman'', and appearing in the 1993 NBC Special ''Bob Hope: The First 90 Years''. On May 13, 1994, Carson appeared on ''Late Show with David Letterman''. During a week of shows from Los Angeles, Letterman was having Larry "Bud" Melman (Calvert DeForest) deliver his "Top Ten Lists" under the guise that a famous personality would be delivering the list instead. On the last show of the week, Letterman indicated that Carson would be delivering the list. Instead, DeForest delivered the list, insulted the audience (in keeping with the gag), and walked off to polite applause. Letterman then indicated that the card he was given did not have the proper list on it and asked that the "real" list be brought out. On that cue, the real Carson emerged from behind the curtain (as Letterman's band played "Johnny's Theme"), an appearance that prompted a standing ovation from the audience. Carson then requested to sit behind Letterman's desk; Letterman obliged, as the audience continued to cheer and applaud. After some moments, Carson departed from the show without having spoken to the audience. He later cited acute laryngitis as the reason for his silence. This night turned out to be Carson's last television appearance.

Letterman

Just days before Carson's death, it was revealed that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman. Letterman would then use these jokes in the monologue of his show, which Carson got "a big kick out of" according to Worldwide Pants, Inc., Senior Vice-President Peter Lassally, who formerly produced both men's programs. He also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor." Letterman frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac" (with band leader Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band," and the "Week in Review."

Personal life

Despite his on-camera demeanor, Carson was very shy off-camera, avoided most large parties, and was referred to as "the most private public man who ever lived". Dick Cavett recalled that "I felt sorry for Johnny in that he was so socially uncomfortable. I've hardly ever met anybody who had as hard a time as he did." George Axelrod said of Carson: "Socially, he doesn’t exist. The reason is that there are no television cameras in living rooms. If human beings had little-red lights in the middle of their foreheads, Carson would be the greatest conversationalist on earth."

He normally refused to discuss politics, social controversies, his childhood, or private life with interviewers, and offered the following list of pre-written answers to journalists who wanted to ask him questions: #Yes, I did. #Not a bit of truth in that rumor. #Only twice in my life, both times on Saturday. #I can do either, but I prefer the first. #No. Kumquats. #I can’t answer that question. #Toads and tarantulas. #Turkestan, Denmark, Chile, and the Komandorskie Islands. #As often as possible, but I’m not very good at it yet. I need much more practice. #It happened to some old friends of mine, and it’s a story I’ll never forget.

Politics

Carson opposed capital punishment, favored racial equality, and was against criminalizing extramarital sex and pornography. He avoided explicitly mentioning his views on ''Tonight'', however, saying "I hate to be pinned down", as that would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am". As he explained in 1970, "In my living room I would argue for liberalization of abortion laws, divorce laws, and there are times when I would like to express a view on the air. I would love to have taken on Billy Graham. But I'm on TV five nights a week; I have nothing to gain by it and everything to lose."

Marriages

In 1948, Carson married Jody Wolcott. The marriage was volatile, with infidelities committed by both parties, and ended in divorce in 1963. Carson got a "quickie" Mexican divorce from Wolcott that year and married Joanne Copeland on August 17, 1963. After a second protracted divorce proceeding in 1972, Copeland received nearly half a million dollars in cash and art and $100,000 a year in alimony for life.

At the Carson ''Tonight Show'' 10th anniversary party on September 30, 1972, Carson announced that he and former model Joanna Holland had been secretly married that afternoon, shocking his friends and associates. Carson kidded that he had married three similarly named women to avoid "having to change the monogram on the towels." On March 8, 1983, Holland filed for divorce. Under California's community property laws, she was entitled to 50% of all the assets accumulated during the marriage, even though Carson earned virtually all of the couple's income. During this period, he joked on ''The Tonight Show'', "my producer, Freddie de Cordova, really gave me something I needed for Christmas. He gave me a gift certificate to the law offices of Jacoby & Meyers." The divorce case finally ended in 1985 with an eighty-page settlement, Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property.

On June 20, 1987, Carson married Alexis Maas. The marriage lasted until his death in 2005.

Children

Carson had three sons, Kit, Cory and Ricky. Richard Carson, his son from his first marriage, died on June 21, 1991, when his car plunged down a steep embankment along a paved service road off Highway 1 near Cayucos, a small town north of San Luis Obispo, California. Apparently, Richard had been taking photographs when the accident occurred. On the first ''Tonight Show'' after Ricky's death, Carson paid tribute to his son's photographic work, and showed portraits of Ricky accompanied by Stevie Ray Vaughan on blues guitar playing ''Riviera Paradise''. In addition, the final image of the show, as well as some "More to Come" bumpers, of Carson's last show on May 22, 1992, featured a photo Richard had taken.

Charity

In 1981, Carson created the John W. Carson Foundation, dedicated to supporting children, education and health services. The Foundation continues to support charitable causes.

In November 2004, Carson announced a $5.3 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the Hixson–Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Department of Theater Arts, which created the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film. Another $5 million donation was announced by the estate of Carson to the University of Nebraska following his death., while a $1 million donation was announced on November 4, 2011, creating the "Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund".

Carson also donated to causes in his hometown of Norfolk, including the Carson Cancer Center at Faith Regional Health Services, the Elkhorn Valley Museum, and the Johnny Carson Theater at Norfolk Senior High School.

In August 2010, the charitable foundation created by Johnny Carson reported receiving $156 million from a personal trust established by the entertainer years prior to his January 2005 death. Carson's foundation was now by far the largest of the Hollywood charities.

Other notes

Carson, an amateur astronomer, was close friends with astronomer Carl Sagan, who often appeared on ''The Tonight Show''. The unique way Sagan had of saying certain words, like "billions" of galaxies, would lead Carson to ribbing his friend, saying ''"BILL-ions and BILL-ions"''. Carson was the first person to contact Sagan's wife Ann Druyan with condolences when the scientist died in 1996. He owned several telescopes, including a Questar, considered at the time a top-of-the line telescope.

Carson was shown on a 1978 segment of ''60 Minutes'' practicing at home on a drum set given to him by close friend Buddy Rich, who was the jazz musician with the most appearances on ''The Tonight Show''. Writer Gore Vidal, another frequent ''Tonight Show'' guest and friend, writes about Carson's personality in his 2006 memoirs.

In 1982, Carson was found to be driving his DeLorean while under the influence of alcohol. He pled ''nolo contendere'' to a misdemeanor charge and given three years of probation. Carson was required to attend an alcohol program for drivers and was permitted to use his car only to drive to work and back.

Death and tributes

On March 19, 1999, Carson, then 73, suffered a severe heart attack at his home in Malibu, California. Carson was sleeping when he suddenly awoke with severe chest pains. He was rushed to a hospital in nearby Santa Monica where he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery.

At 6:50 AM PST on January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema. He was 79 years old. Carson had revealed his terminal illness to the public in September 2002. Following his death, Carson's body was cremated and the ashes were given to his wife, Alexis Maas Carson. In accordance with his family's wishes, no public memorial service was held. Numerous tributes were paid to Carson upon his death, recognizing the deep and enduring affection held for him around the world, including a statement by then-President George W. Bush.

The day after his death, January 24, 2005, ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey and k.d. lang. Letterman followed suit on January 31 with former ''Tonight Show'' executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. At the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for thirty years no matter what was going on in the world, whether people had had a good or bad day, they wanted to end the day by being "tucked in by Johnny." Letterman also told his viewers that the monologue he had just spoken (which had been very well received by the studio audience) had consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life. Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by playing one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You").

On his final ''Tonight Show'' appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television don't necessarily like each other, this was not the case with him and McMahon; they were good friends that would have drinks and dinner together, and the camaraderie that they had on the show could not be faked. Carson and McMahon were friends for forty-six years.

The 2005 film ''The Aristocrats'' was dedicated to Carson.

At the 1st Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to David Letterman.

References

Further reading

Accounts on work and life

Humor material collections

ISBN 1-199-39735-0 ASIN: B002J1EG3A

''Johnny Carson Collection'', Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

External links

Official website for ''The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson''

at Salon at ''The New Republic''

Tynan, Kenneth. 1978 profile, ''The New Yorker''

''The Johnny Carson Show'', ''USA Today''

Martin, Steve. Posthumous Letter to Carson, ''The New York Times''

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Obituaries

Obituary at CNN

Obituary at MSNBC

Wolcott, James. Obituary, ''Vanity Fair''

Category:1925 births Category:2005 deaths Category:American game show hosts Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Deaths from emphysema Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Entertainers from Nebraska Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Category:United States Navy officers Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Adams County, Iowa Category:People from Montgomery County, Iowa

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name	David Letterman
pseudonym	Earl Hofert
birth date	April 12, 1947
birth place	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, talk show
nationality	American
genre	Observational comedy, surreal humor, deadpan
subject	Self-deprecation, everyday life
influences	Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Jack Paar, Paul Dixon
influenced	Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Gaffigan, Jon Stewart, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon
website	CBS.com/latenight/lateshow
active	1974–present
domesticpartner	Regina Lasko (1986–2009)
spouse	Michelle Cook (1969–1977)Regina Lasko (2009–present)
Religion	Lutheran
notable work	Host of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (NBC)Host of ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (CBS)
signature	David Letterman Autograph.svg

}} David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, ''Late Show with David Letterman'', broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' on NBC. Letterman recently surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson for having the longest late-night hosting career in the United States.

Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', currently in syndication.

In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Early life and career

Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (''née'' Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.

Letterman lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, IN, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he enjoyed collecting model cars, including racers. In 2000, he told an interviewer for ''Esquire'' that, while growing up, he admired his father's ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. Harry Joseph Letterman survived a heart attack at age 36, when David was a young boy. The fear of losing his father was constantly with Letterman as he grew up. The elder Letterman died of a second heart attack at age 57.

Letterman attended his hometown's Broad Ripple High School at the same time as Marilyn Tucker Quayle (wife of the former Vice President) and worked as a stock boy at the local Atlas supermarket. According to the ''Ball State Daily News'', he originally had wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades weren't good enough, so he decided to attend Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and he graduated from what was then the Department of Radio and Television, in 1969. A self-described average student, Letterman endowed a scholarship for what he called "C students" at Ball State.

Though he registered for the draft and passed his physical after graduating from college, he was not drafted for service in Vietnam due to receiving a draft lottery number of 352 (out of 365).

Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college's student-run radio station—WBST—a 10-watt campus station which now is part of Indiana Public Radio. He was fired for treating classical music with irreverence.

Letterman then became involved with the founding of another campus station—WAGO-AM 570 (now WWHI, 91.3).

Letterman credits Paul Dixon—host of the ''Paul Dixon Show'', a Cincinnati-based talk show also shown in Indianapolis while Letterman was growing up—for inspiring his choice of career: :"I was just out of college [in 1969], and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And then all of a sudden I saw him doing it [on TV]. And I thought: That's really what I want to do!"

Weatherman

Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM), and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (now called WTHR) as a local anchor and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hail stones "the size of canned hams." He would also occasionally report the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas.") while on another occasion saying that a state border had been erased. ("From space you can see the border between Indiana and Ohio has been erased. I'm not in favor of this.") He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (he once acted out a scene from "Godzilla" using plastic dinosaurs), and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called "Clover Power," in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.

In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for ABC Sports' tape-delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500. David is initially introduced as Chris Economaki in his job as a corner reporter. He interviews Mario Andretti who has just crashed out of the race and asks him a question about traffic on the course.

Move to Los Angeles

In 1975, encouraged by his then-wife Michelle and several of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, Letterman moved to Los Angeles, California, with hope of becoming a comedy writer. He started off by writing material for comedian Jimmie Walker. He also began performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store, a proving ground for unknown comics.

In the summer of 1977, Letterman was a writer and regular on the six-week summer series ''The Starland Vocal Band Show'', broadcast on CBS. He hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show entitled ''The Riddlers'' that was never picked up and co-starred in the Barry Levinson-produced comedy special ''Peeping Times'' that aired in January 1978. Later that year, Letterman was a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore's variety show, ''Mary''. Letterman made a guest appearance on ''Mork & Mindy'' (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard) and appearances on game shows such as ''The $20,000 Pyramid'', ''The Gong Show'', ''Password Plus'' and ''Liar's Club'', as well as talk shows such as ''The Mike Douglas Show''. He was also screen tested for the lead role in the 1980 film ''Airplane!'', a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.

His dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', and Letterman was soon a regular guest on the show. Letterman became a favorite of Carson's and was a regular guest host for the show beginning in 1978. Letterman credits Carson as the person who influenced his career the most.

NBC

Morning show

On June 23, 1980, Letterman was given his own morning comedy show on NBC, ''The David Letterman Show''. It was originally 90 minutes long, but was shortened to 60 minutes in August 1980. The show was a critical success, winning two Emmy Awards, but was a ratings disappointment and was canceled in October 1980.

''Late Night with David Letterman''

NBC kept Letterman under contract to try him in a different time slot. ''Late Night with David Letterman'' debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest on the first show was Bill Murray. Murray also guested on January 31, 2012 – 30 years later. The show ran Monday through Thursday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987. It was seen as being edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman's reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher (who even called him an asshole on the show), Shirley MacLaine, Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and '60s programs of Steve Allen. Although Ernie Kovacs is often cited as an influence on the show, Letterman has denied this.

The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking regular features, including "Stupid Pet Tricks", dropping various objects off the roof of a five-story building, demonstrations of unorthodox clothing (such as suits made of Alka-Seltzer, Velcro and suet), a recurring Top 10 list, the Monkey-Cam (and the Audience Cam), and a facetious letter-answering segment. The Top 10 list, several "Film[s] by My Dog Bob" in which a camera was mounted on Letterman's own dog (often with comic results), Stupid Human Tricks, Small Town News, and Stupid Pet Tricks (which had its origins on Letterman's morning show) all eventually moved with Letterman to CBS.

Other memorable moments included Letterman using a bullhorn to interrupt a live interview on ''The Today Show'', announcing that he was the NBC president while not wearing any pants; interrupting Al Roker on WNBC-TV's broadcast of ''Live at Five'' by walking into their studio (which occupied the same floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Letterman's studio); and staging "elevator races", complete with commentary by NBC Sports' Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared to be slapped and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler (though Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged.) In another memorable exchange, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer included cucumbers in a list of handy sex objects that women could find at home. The following night, guest Ted Koppel asked Letterman "May I insert something here?" and Dave responded "OK, as long as it's not a cucumber."

''Late Show with David Letterman''

In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of ''The Tonight Show''. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite ''The Tonight Show'' at 11:30 p.m., called the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. The new show debuted on August 30, 1993 and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, where Ed Sullivan taped his eponymous variety series from 1948 to 1971. For Letterman's arrival, CBS spent $8 million in renovations. In addition to that cost, CBS also signed Letterman to a lucrative three-year, $14 million/year contract, doubling his ''Late Night'' salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to NBC, signing Letterman, announcer Bill Wendell, Shaffer, the writers and the band) was over $140 million.

But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, ''Late Show'' was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. Recognizing the more formal mood (and wider audience) of his new time slot and studio, Letterman eschewed his trademark blazer with khaki pants and white sneakers wardrobe combination in favor of expensive shoes, tailored suits and light-colored socks. The monologue was lengthened and Paul Shaffer and the "World's Most Dangerous Band" followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the "CBS Orchestra" as a short monologue and a small band were mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his ''Late Night'' segments verbatim, but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the "Top Ten List" became the "Late Show Top Ten", "Viewer Mail" became the "CBS Mailbag", etc.)

Popularity

The main competitor of ''The Late Show'' is NBC's ''The Tonight Show'', which was hosted by Jay Leno for nearly 16 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O'Brien. In 1993 and 1994, ''The Late Show'' consistently gained higher ratings than ''Tonight''. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno's show consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno's show after Grant's arrest for soliciting a prostitute.; Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. ''The Late Show'' lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno's departure in 2009. In the final months of his first stint as host of ''The Tonight Show'', Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and ''Nightline'' and ''The Late Show'' were virtually tied. Once O'Brien took over ''Tonight'', however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings. O'Brien initially drove the median age of ''Tonight Show'' viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch ''The Late Show'' instead.

Following Leno's return to ''The Tonight Show'', however, Leno has regained his lead.

Letterman's shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993–2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of ''Nation's Favorite TV Personality'' 12 times. For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth. Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.

Hosting the Academy Awards

On March 27, 1995, Letterman acted as the host for the 67th Academy Awards ceremony. Critics blasted Letterman for what they deemed a poor hosting of the Oscars, noting that his irreverent style undermined the traditional importance and glamor of the event. In a joke about their unusual names (inspired by a similar joke by Woody Allen), he started off by introducing Uma Thurman to Oprah Winfrey, and then both of them to Keanu Reeves: "Oprah...Uma. Uma...Oprah," "Have you kids met Keanu?" This and many of his other jokes fell flat. Although Letterman attracted the highest ratings to the annual telecast since 1983, many felt that the bad publicity garnered by Letterman's hosting caused a decline in the ''Late Show'''s ratings.

Letterman recycled the apparent debacle into a long-running gag. On his first show after the Oscars, he joked, "Looking back, I had no idea that thing was being televised." He lampooned his stint two years later, during Billy Crystal's opening Oscar skit, which also parodied the plane-crashing scenes from that year's chief nominated film, ''The English Patient''.

For years afterward, Letterman recounted his hosting the Oscars, although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued to hold Letterman in high regard and they had invited him to host the Oscars again. On September 7, 2010, he made an appearance on the premiere of the 14th season of ''The View'', and confirmed that he had been considered for hosting again.

Heart surgery hiatus

On January 14, 2000, a routine check-up revealed that an artery in Letterman's heart was severely obstructed. He was rushed to emergency surgery for a quintuple bypass.

During the initial weeks of his recovery, reruns of the ''Late Show'' were shown and introduced by friends of Letterman including Drew Barrymore, including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and physician Louis Aronne, who frequently appears on the show. In a show of emotion, Letterman was nearly in tears as he thanked the health care team with the words "These are the people who saved my life!" The episode earned an Emmy nomination. For a number of episodes, Letterman continued to crack jokes about his bypass, including saying, "Bypass surgery: it's when doctors surgically create new blood flow to your heart. A bypass is what happened to me when I didn't get ''The Tonight Show!'' It's a whole different thing." In a later running gag he lobbied his home state of Indiana to rename the freeway circling Indianapolis (I-465) "The David Letterman Bypass." He also featured a montage of faux news coverage of his bypass surgery, which included a clip of Dave's heart for sale on the Home Shopping Network. Letterman became friends with his doctors and nurses. In 2008, a ''Rolling Stone'' interview stated "he hosted a doctor and nurse who'd helped perform the emergency quintuple-bypass heart surgery that saved his life in 2000. 'These are people who were complete strangers when they opened my chest,' he says. 'And now, eight years later, they're among my best friends.' "

Additionally, Letterman invited the band Foo Fighters to play "Everlong", introducing them as "my favorite band, playing my favorite song." During a later Foo Fighters appearance, Letterman said that Foo Fighters had been in the middle of a South American tour which they canceled to come play on his comeback episode.

Letterman again handed over the reins of the show to several guest hosts (including Bill Cosby, Brad Garrett, Elvis Costello, John McEnroe, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Bonnie Hunt, Luke Wilson and bandleader Paul Shaffer) in February 2003, when he was diagnosed with a severe case of shingles. Later that year, Letterman made regular use of guest hosts—including Tom Arnold and Kelsey Grammer—for new shows broadcast on Fridays. In March 2007, Adam Sandler—who had been scheduled to be the lead guest—served as a guest host while Letterman was ill with a stomach virus.

Re-signing with CBS

In March 2002, as Letterman's contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for long-running news program ''Nightline'' with Ted Koppel. Letterman was interested as he believed he could never match Leno's ratings at CBS due to Letterman's complaint of weaker lead-ins from the network's late local news programs, but was reluctant to replace Koppel. Letterman addressed his decision to re-sign on the air, stating that he was content at CBS and that he had great respect for Koppel.

On December 4, 2006, CBS revealed that Letterman signed a new contract to host ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' through the fall of 2010. "I'm thrilled to be continuing on at CBS," said Letterman. "At my age you really don't want to have to learn a new commute." Letterman further joked about the subject by pulling up his right pants leg, revealing a tattoo, presumably temporary, of the ABC logo.

"Thirteen years ago, David Letterman put CBS late night on the map and in the process became one of the defining icons of our network," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation. "His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the ''Late Show'' puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment. We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS 'home.'"

According to a 2007 article in ''Forbes'' magazine, Letterman earned $40 million a year. A 2009 article in ''The New York Times'', however, said his salary was estimated at $32 million per year. In June 2009, Letterman's Worldwide Pants and CBS reached agreement to continue the ''Late Show'' until at least August 2012. The previous contract had been set to expire in 2010, and the two-year extension is shorter than the typical three-year contract period negotiated in the past. Worldwide Pants agreed to lower its fee for the show, though it had remained a "solid moneymaker for CBS" under the previous contract.

On the February 3, 2011, edition of the ''Late Show'', during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for "maybe two years, I think."

2007–2008 writers' strike

The Late Show went off air for eight weeks during the months of November and December because of the Writers Guild of America strike. Letterman's production company—Worldwide Pants—was the first company to make an individual agreement with the WGA, thus allowing his show to come back on air on January 2, 2008. On his first episode since being off air, he surprised the viewing audience with his newly grown beard, which signified solidarity with the strike. His beard was shaved off during the show on January 7, 2008.

Controversy over jokes about daughter of Sarah Palin

On June 8 and June 9, 2009, Letterman told a sexually-themed joke on his show each night about a daughter of Sarah Palin. Palin was in New York City at the time with her fourteen year-old daughter, Willow, and the jokes were said to be aimed at the daughter, never named, who was visiting New York City with her mother. Palin criticized the jokes, saying in a statement posted on the internet that "I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter," and "laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl" is "disgusting." On June 10, Letterman responded to the controversy on his show by stating that the jokes were meant to be about Palin's eighteen year-old daughter, Bristol, whose pregnancy as an unmarried teenager had caused controversy during the 2008 Presidential election, and that "(t)hese are not jokes made about (Palin's) 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl." His remarks didn't put an end to the public criticism, however, with the National Organization for Women, who supported Palin in a statement, noting he only issued "something of an apology." With the controversy not subsiding, Letterman addressed the issue again on his June 15 show, faulting himself for the error and apologizing "especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke."

Letterman and Carson

In spite of Johnny Carson's clear intention to pass his title to Letterman, NBC selected Jay Leno to host ''The Tonight Show'' after Carson's departure. Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Three years after he left for CBS, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called ''The Late Shift'', based on a book by ''New York Times'' reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted ''Tonight Show'' hosting spot. Letterman would mock the film for months afterward, specifically on how the actor playing him, John Michael Higgins, did not resemble him in the least.

Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994, on a ''Late Show'' episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued (it was later explained that Carson had laryngitis, though Carson can be heard talking to Letterman during his appearance).

In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson still kept up with current events and late-night TV right up to his death that year, and that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a onetime producer for both men), Carson got "a big kick out of it." Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson's jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson's death were written by Carson.

Lassally also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor." Letterman also frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac the Magnificent" (with Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band" and the "Week in Review."

Letterman and Oprah Winfrey

On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He shared pictures of his son and live-in girlfriend. The so-called feud between Letterman and Winfrey apparently ended in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on CBS's ''Late Show with David Letterman'' on December 2, in an event Letterman jokingly referred to as "the Super Bowl of Love". Winfrey had previously appeared on Letterman's show when he was hosting NBC's ''Late Night'' on May 2, 1989.

Winfrey and Letterman also appeared together in a Late Show promo that aired during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, with the two sitting next to each other on the couch watching the game. Since the game was played between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis-born Letterman wears a Peyton Manning jersey, while Winfrey—who tapes her show in Chicago—is in a Brian Urlacher jersey. Three years later, during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, the two appeared again, this time with Winfrey sitting on a couch between Letterman and Jay Leno. The appearance was Letterman's idea: Leno flew to New York City in an NBC corporate jet, sneaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater during the ''Late Show'''s February 4 taping wearing a disguise, meeting Winfrey and Letterman at a living room set created in the theater's balcony where they taped their promo.

Response to Internet death threat

On August 17, 2011, it was reported that a Muslim militant had posted a death threat against Letterman on a website frequented by Al-Qaeda supporters, calling on American Muslims to kill Letterman for making a joke about the death of an Al-Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2011. In his show on August 22, Letterman joked about the threat, saying "State Department authorities are looking into this. They're not taking this lightly. They're looking into it. They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail—but everybody knows it's Leno."

Appearances in other media

Letterman appeared in issue 239 of the Marvel comic book ''The Avengers'', in which the title characters are guests on ''Late Night''. A parody of Letterman, named "David Endochrine," is gassed to death along with his bandleader named "Paul" and their audience in Frank Miller's ''The Dark Knight Returns''.

Letterman appeared in the pilot episode of the short-lived 1986 series "Coach Toast", and he appears with a bag over his head as a guest on Bonnie Hunt's ca. 1993 sitcom ''The Building''. He also appears in The Simpsons, as himself in a couch gag when The Simpsons find themselves (and the couch) in "Late Night with David Letterman." He had a cameo in the feature film ''Cabin Boy'', with Chris Elliott, who worked as a writer on Letterman's show. In this and other appearances, Letterman is listed in the credits as "Earl Hofert", the name of Letterman's maternal grandfather. He also appeared as himself in the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts as well as the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic ''Man on the Moon'', in a few episodes of Garry Shandling's 1990s TV series ''The Larry Sanders Show'' and in "The Abstinence", a 1996 episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. Letterman also made an uncredited appearance in the first episode of the third season of the sitcom The Nanny.

Letterman provided vocals for the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody" from ''My Ride's Here'', and provided the voice for Butt-head's father in the 1996 animated film ''Beavis and Butt-head Do America''.

In 2010, a documentary ''Dying to Do Letterman'' was released directed by Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina featuring Steve Mazan, a stand up comic, who has cancer and wants to appear on the Letterman Show. The film won Best Documentary and Jury Awards at the Cinequest Film Festival. Steve Mazan published a same-titled book (full title, ''Dying to Do Letterman: Turning Someday into Today'' about his own saga.

Other projects

Worldwide Pants

Letterman started his own production company—Worldwide Pants Incorporated—which produced his show and several others, including ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', ''The Late Late Show'', and several critically acclaimed, but short-lived television series for Bonnie Hunt. Worldwide Pants also produced the dramedy program ''Ed'', which aired on NBC from 2000–2004. It was Letterman's first association with NBC since he left the network in 1993. During ''Ed's'' run, the star, Tom Cavanagh, appeared as a guest on ''The Late Show'' several times.

In 2005, Worldwide Pants produced its first feature film, ''Strangers with Candy'', which was a prequel to the Comedy Central TV series of the same title. In 2007, Worldwide Pants produced the ABC comedy series, ''Knights of Prosperity''.

Worldwide Pants made significant news in December 2007 when it was announced that Letterman's company had independently negotiated its own contract with the Writers Guild of America, East, thus allowing Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and their writers to return to work, while the union continued its strike against production companies, networks and studios who had not reached an agreement.

Record company

In late April 2010, several music industry websites reported that Letterman started a record label named Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and signed his first artist, Runner Runner. Lucy Walsh announced on her MySpace page that she has been signed by Letterman and Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and is working on her album.

Rahal Letterman Racing

Rahal Letterman Racing (RLR) is an auto racing team that currently races in the American Le Mans Series, and part-time in the Indy Racing League. It is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and Letterman himself, and is based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice. Letterman was a pit reporter for ABC in the 1971 Indianapolis 500.

American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming

American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming is Letterman's private foundation. Through it, Letterman has donated millions of dollars to charities and other non-profits in Indiana and Montana, celebrity-affiliated organizations such as Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, universities such as Ball State, and other organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, and Doctors Without Borders.

Personal life

Marriages and long-term relationships

In 1969, Letterman married Michelle Cook; the marriage ended by divorce in 1977. He also had a long-term relationship with former head writer and producer on ''Late Night'', Merrill Markoe. Markoe was the mind behind several ''Late Night'' staples, such as "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks".

Letterman has a son, Harry Joseph Letterman (born on November 3, 2003), with Regina Lasko. Harry is named after Letterman's father. In 2005, police discovered a plot to kidnap Harry Letterman and ransom him for $5 million. Kelly Frank, a house painter who had worked for Letterman, was charged in the conspiracy.

Letterman and Lasko, who had been together since 1986, wed on March 19, 2009, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Choteau, Montana, where he purchased a ranch in 1999. Letterman announced the marriage during the taping of his March 23 show, shortly after congratulating Bruce Willis for getting married the previous week. Letterman told the audience he nearly missed the ceremony because his truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house. The family resides in North Salem, New York, on a estate.

Stalking incident

Beginning in May 1988, Letterman was stalked by Margaret Mary Ray, a woman suffering from schizophrenia. She once stole his Porsche, repeatedly broke into his house, and camped out on his tennis court. Her exploits drew national attention, and Letterman occasionally joked about her behavior in his show, although never mentioning her name. After she committed suicide in 1998, Letterman told the ''New York Times'' that he had had great compassion for her, and publicly expressed sympathy.

Extortion attempt and revelation of affairs

On his October 1, 2009, show, Letterman announced that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt by someone threatening to reveal that he had had sex with several of his female employees, and at the same time, he confirmed that he had had such relationships. He stated that three weeks earlier (on September 9, 2009) someone had left a package in his car with material he said he would write into a screenplay and a book if Letterman did not pay him $2 million. Letterman said that he contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office, ultimately cooperating with them to conduct a sting operation involving giving the man a phony check. Subsequently, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer of the CBS true crime journalism series ''48 Hours'', was arrested after trying to deposit the check. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny on October 2, 2009. Eventually, on March 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to this same felony and served a 6-month jail sentence, followed by probation and community service.

A central figure in the case and one of the women Letterman had had a sexual relationship with was his longtime personal assistant Stephanie Birkitt, who often appeared with him on his show. She had also worked for ''48 Hours''. Until a month prior to the revelations, she had shared a residence with Halderman, who allegedly had copied her personal diary and used it, along with private emails, in the blackmail package.

On October 3, 2009, a former CBS employee, Holly Hester, announced that she and Letterman had engaged in a year-long "secret" affair in the early 1990s while she was his intern and a student at New York University.

In the days following the initial announcement of the affairs and the arrest, several prominent women, including Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of NBC's ''Today Show'', and NBC news anchor Ann Curry questioned whether Letterman's affairs with subordinates created an unfair working environment. A spokesman for Worldwide Pants said that the company's sexual harassment policy did not prohibit sexual relationships between managers and employees. According to business news reporter Eve Tahmincioglu, "CBS suppliers are supposed to follow the company's business conduct policies" and the CBS 2008 Business Conduct Statement states that "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department..."

On October 5, 2009, Letterman devoted a segment of his show to a public apology to his wife and staff. Three days later, Worldwide Pants announced that Birkitt had been placed on a "paid leave of absence" from the ''Late Show''. On October 15, CBS News announced that the company's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Armen Keteyian, had been assigned to conduct an "in-depth investigation" into Halderman's blackmail of Letterman.

Awards and honors

Awards

In his capacities as either a writer, producer, performer, or as part of a writing team, Letterman is among the most nominated people in Emmy Award history with 52 nominations, winning two Daytime Emmys and five Primetime Emmys since 1981. His nomination record is second only to producer Jac Venza, who holds the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual (57). Letterman has been nominated every year since 1984, when he first appeared on late night television as the host of ''Late Night with David Letterman.'' Additionally, he has won four American Comedy Awards. Letterman was the first recipient of the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at The Comedy Awards in 2011.

David Letterman Communication and Media Building

On September 7, 2007, Letterman visited his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, for the dedication of a communications facility named in his honor for his dedication to the university throughout his career as a comedian. The $21 million, David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened for the 2007 fall semester. It features state-of-the-art recording equipment and facilities. Thousands of Ball State students, faculty, and local residents welcomed Letterman back to Indiana. Letterman's emotional speech touched on his struggles as a college student and his late father, and also included the "top ten good things about having your name on a building", finishing with, "if reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible."

At the same time, Letterman also received a Sagamore of the Wabash award given by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which recognizes distinguished service to the state of Indiana.

References

External links

David Letterman's Feb. 24, 1978 appearance on ''90 Minutes Live''

Official ''Late Show'' biography

1999 article on Letterman from Salon.com

Tape of Letterman announcing affairs/extortion attempt on Late Show

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Ball State University alumni Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Indianapolis, Indiana television anchors Category:IndyCar Series team owners Category:People from Indianapolis, Indiana Category:Weather presenters

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name	Tony Trischka |
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist|
birth name	Tony Trischka |
alias	|
birth date	January 16, 1949 |
origin	Syracuse, New York, USA |
instruments	Banjo, steel guitar |
genre	Bluegrass, Country |
occupation	Bluegrass musician |
years active	1970s–present |
label	Rounder Records |
associated acts	|
website	|
current members	|
past members	|
notable instruments	Banjo, steel guitar | }}

Tony Trischka (born January 16, 1949 in Syracuse, New York) is an American five-string banjo player.

Biography

Tony Trischka was born in Syracuse, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University (in Syracuse, New York) with a B.A in Fine Arts, and was inspired to play the banjo in 1963, listening to the Kingston Trio's "Charlie and The MTA". thumb|Performing in 2008 Trischka was a founding member of the Syracuse band Down City Ramblers during and beyond his college years, along with such musicians as Harry "Tersh" Gilmore (aka Lou Martin), Tom Hosmer, John Cadley, John Dancks, Greg Root, Greg Johnson, and Joel Diamond. Along with Gilmore and Hosmer he was also in the trio calling itself The Inedible String Bland. Both bands primarily, and frequently, played at Syracuse's premier music club/restaurant of the 1960s, Cap'n Mac's Clam Shack.

In 1971 he made his recording debut on ''15 Bluegrass Instrumentals'' with the Ithaca, NY based Country Cooking, (Peter Wernick, Kenny Kosek, Andy Statman, John Miller, Harry "Tersh" Gilmore) and at the same time, he was also a member of Syracuse's Country Granola (Herb Feuerstein, Johno Lanford, Greg Root, Danny Weiss, etc.). In 1973, he began a two-year stint with the New York City band, Breakfast Special (Kenny Kosek, Andy Statman, Roger Mason, Stacy Phillips, Jim Tolles). (This was Trischka's "food band" period.) Between 1974 and 1975, he recorded two solo albums, ''Bluegrass Light'' and ''Heartlands''. After another solo album in 1976, ''Banjoland'', he became musical leader for the Broadway show, ''The Robber Bridegroom''. Trischka toured with the show in 1978, the year he also played with the Monroe Doctrine. Beginning in 1978, he also played with artists such as Peter Rowan, Richard Greene, and Stacy Phillips.

In the early 1980s, he began recording with his new group Skyline, which recorded its first album in 1983. Subsequent albums included ''Robot Plane Flies over Arkansas'' (solo, 1983), ''Stranded in the Moonlight'' (with Skyline, 1984) and ''Hill Country'' (solo, 1985). In 1984, he performed in his first feature film, ''Foxfire''. Three years later, he worked on the soundtrack for ''Driving Miss Daisy''. Trischka produced the Belgian group Gold Rush's ''No More Angels'' in 1988. The following year, Skyline recorded its final album, ''Fire of Grace''. He also recorded the theme song for ''Books on the Air'', a popular National Public Radio Show, and continued his affiliation with the network by appearing on Garrison Keillor's ''A Prairie Home Companion'', ''Mountain Stage'', ''From Our Front Porch'', and other radio shows.

Trischka's solo recordings include 1993's ''World Turning'', 1995's ''Glory Shone Around: A Christmas Collection'' and 1999's ''Bend''. ''New Deal'', a studio album that followed in 2003, was a bluesy adaptation of bluegrass standards that included a vocal cameo by Loudon Wainwright. ''Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular'', with an appearance by comedian Steve Martin, came out four years later.

Trischka was banjo teacher to Béla Fleck, regarded, along with Trischka, as one of the world's top banjoists.

In the late 1990s, Trischka teamed up with David Grier, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and Todd Phillips as "Psychograss" and formed a new band, whose debut album ''Bend'' explored yet more territory uncharted by banjo.

In January 2007 Trischka released, to critical and popular acclaim, ''Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular'', featuring new music and performances by a stellar line-up of musicians including Earl Scruggs, Béla Fleck and the multi-talented Steve Martin. On April 26, 2007, he performed live on ''The Late Show With David Letterman'' with Steve Martin and Béla Fleck.

On October 4, 2007 Trischka won three International Bluegrass Music Awards, for Album of the Year, Recorded Event of the Year, and Banjo Player of the Year.

In 2008, Trischka released an album on Smithsonian Folkways entitled ''Territory'', which in 2009 won the 8th annual Independent Music Awards for Best Americana Album.

In 2009, Tony Trischka launched the 'Tony Trischka School of Banjo', an online banjo school.

In 2010 produced Steve Martin’s Rare Bird Alert (March 2011-Rounder) which features performances by Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks.

In 2011 Tony acted as the musical director of the documentary "Give Me the Banjo", which first aired on PBS in the fall of 2011.

Trischka resides in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Television appearances

David Letterman show, with Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Brittany Haas, and Michael Daves, April 2007

Ellen Degeneres show, with Steve Martin, Brittany Haas, and Michael Daves, April 2007

Live at the Quick, with Bela Fleck, 2004–2006

ABC “Views”, with Béla Fleck, Summer 1997

“ABC World News Tonight” with Peter Jennings, Summer, 1996

“CBS Sunday Morning” with Charles Osgood - feature story (including Béla Fleck), 1995

“Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” (PBS), 1992

British television production of “Echoes of America: History of the Five String Banjo”, 1989

CBS “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production of “Foxfire” with Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and John Denver, 1987

Ralph Emory’s “Frets” Awards Show, The Nashville Network, 1987

Nashville Network’s “Fire on the Mountain,” 1984, 1986

Merv Griffin Show, 1976

References

External links

Official Site

Tony Trischka School of Banjo

Academy of Bluegrass

Category:American banjoists Category:American bluegrass musicians Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:People from Syracuse, New York Category:Independent Music Awards winners

cs:Tony Trischka pt:Tony Trischka