What we learned about Johnny Carson from his new biography

Johnny Carson used his affable personality and keen talent for comedy to become none other than the king of late-night television and a cultural icon as a host Evening show for almost three decades, from 1962 to 1992. But as a new biography shows Carson the Magnificent According to the details of the late Bill Zehme (Nov. 5), Private Carson, who died of emphysema in 2005 at age 79, was inscrutable—relatively shy—and had very difficult personal relationships.

Zehme, a longtime Carson fan and renowned journalist, nevertheless spent years uncovering the man behind the myth. However, he only wrote three-quarters of the biography before he died of cancer last year at the age of 64, so Mike Thomas, a former entertainment journalist Chicago Sun Timesfinished the book.

Thomas explains in the prologue why Zehme (and likely many other fans) respect Carson: the host assured his viewers that “tomorrow will come and we can laugh about what just happened today and we can get up in the morning and that’s it.” will be fine, let’s go again.

Indeed, it would be difficult to overstate the influence of a Nebraska-raised celebrity. How New York Times wrote in his obituary: “(Carson) became the biggest and most popular star American television has ever known…. At its peak, 10 to 15 million Americans slept better on weekdays because of it.”

But who was Is this cultural icon behind the scenes?

Here are 11 things we learned about Carson from his new biography:

Homer Carson and wife Ruth Carson, parents of Johnny Carson, 1974.

Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images

1. He had a difficult relationship with his mother

Ruth Carson was a tough, powerful woman with a sarcastic, caustic sense of humor and a fiery temper. (She reportedly once smashed an entire set of dishes against a kitchen wall.) Even after Johnny’s success, she largely withheld praise, and he spent his life trying to please her: In 1980, he received the coveted Governor’s Award from the Television Academy. because of his work, he called her and told her. Her half-hearted response: “I think they know what they’re doing.” When his mother died, according to Carson’s acquaintance Burt Reynolds, Carson declared, “The wicked witch is dead!”

Johnny Carson, pictured in this undated photograph from his childhood, was billed as “The Great Carson” while performing in magic shows.

Norfolk Daily News/AP Photo

2. Magic was his early love and main interest.

Almost pathologically shy all his life (he was very uncomfortable at parties), Carson said Los Angeles Times in 1986: “I think when I was 12 I read a book called Hoffmann’s Book of Magic. probably changed the course of my life.” From then on, the Great Carsoni, as the teenager called himself, was obsessed, taking every opportunity and practicing on his family. Although he led almost as reclusive a life as Howard Hughes when he was off the air during his Today’s show Years later, Carson invited leading magicians to his home in Malibu to perform and show him the latest advances in the art.

Johnny Carson in the Navy Corps during World War II.

Alami

3. He learned the hard way about the need for laughter.

Enlisted in the Navy during World War II, he became a communications officer who deciphered encrypted messages. At some point, he was tasked with going down into a hole in the stern of a bombed ship and supervising the search for 20 corpses. “God, it was a terrible experience,” he said Time magazine in an unpublished interview. “By that time they had been there 18 days, and let me tell you, it was a terrible job.” As the writer Tseme wrote: “He deeply realized the great importance of kindling laughter as a necessary way to distract oneself from everyday human weariness and lonely suffering.”