Ed McMahon

[Wyoming]

The 86-year-old TV personality died this morning at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Semper Fidelis and God Speed.


developing ...

[thewookie]

RIP Marine
Semper Fi

[davblay]

Another of our WW II Brothers gone.

Semper Fi Colonel, and this ones for you,

[temarti]

Semper FI and God's speed...

[Gunner 0313]

R.I.P. Marine !

[ecfree]

Another Marine reporting sir,He's served his time in hell.....
SEMPER FI Ed....

[Lisa 23]

R.I.P. Marine......

Semper Fi

[FOBU]

Semper Fi Marine thanks for the laughs

[ameriken]

Sleep well Brother, you earned your rest. Semper Fi.

[Lisa 23]

'Tonight Show' sidekick Ed McMahon dies at 86
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

Ed McMahon, the top banana of second bananas, died peacefully early Tuesday morning at Los Angeles' Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, publicist Howard Bragman says.

He did not give a specific cause of death but did cite a "multitude of health problems the last few months."

McMahon, 86, was a household name for 30 years as the announcer and sidekick to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. His trademark opening "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" became part of the cultural lexicon, echoed most memorably by Jack Nicholson in 1980's The Shining.

McMahon also served as host, announcer and sidekick on numerous other television shows, including Star Search, TV Bloopers & Practical Jokes and Jerry Lewis' annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon. He appeared as himself on such shows as Scrubs and Just Shoot Me.

After leaving The Tonight Show with Carson in 1992, McMahon remained in the public eye as a product pitchman, most recently playing off his iconic image in a Cash 4 Gold commercial during this year's Super Bowl.

He also became synonymous with American Family Publishers, showing up at the doors of unsuspecting winners to present a giant-sized check.
In recent years, he was in the news for home and money troubles. In 2001, he had to leave his Beverly Hills mansion after becoming sick from toxic mold.

Despite winning a lawsuit over the matter, money woes arose, jeopardizing his ownership of the house. McMahon appeared on Larry King's talk show last year wearing a neck brace and saying a broken neck he suffered in a fall in 2007 had prevented him from earning money to pay off his debts.

Last year, McMahon performed a rap in a Web ad for FreeCreditReport.com, playing off his own financial troubles.

Recently, investors took over his outstanding loan with the promise he could remain in the hilltop home.

Born in Detroit and raised in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, McMahon began training for his future career by calling bingo games as a teen and hawking vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk to pay college expenses.

He served as a pilot in the Marine Corps in World War II before graduating from Catholic University and starting his announcing career in Philadelphia. He went back to Marine service during the Korean War, flying reconnaissance missions.

McMahon joined Carson in 1957, serving as the announcer for Carson's game show Who Do You Trust? before both men ascended to NBC's Tonight Show in 1962. That partnership lasted three decades, with McMahon playing straight man during such bits as Carson's Carnac the Magnificent and providing a hearty laugh — and often a "Hi-Yo!" — during the host's monologues, skits and interviews.

McMahon is survived by his third wife, Pam, five children and six grandchildren.

[sparkie]

Is there honor in death? Only from your Brothers. Thanks for the post, LASW,,,,,,,,

[thedrifter]

Ed McMahon is gone, but `Heeeeere's Johnny!' will echo on behind him

June 24, 2009
Rob Salem

After three decades as a nightly fixture at the far end of Johnny Carson's couch, Ed McMahon was all too quickly relegated to obscurity, and from there crushing debt and increasingly ill health and, finally, yesterday morning, at age 86, death from various undisclosed causes, among them, reportedly, bone cancer.

His single most significant and enduring achievement will remain his indelible introductory Tonight Show catchphrase, "Heeeeere's Johnny!" – immortalized by Jack Nicholson as an improvised ad-lib in the 1980 horror film The Shining (a clip later recycled by Carson himself as the introduction to an anniversary special).

McMahon otherwise dutifully served as the butt of his boss's boozehound put-downs, and a reliable source of unconditional affirmation with a hearty guffaw in response to every uttered punchline.

"I laugh for an hour and then go home," he told Associated Press in 1993. "I've got the world's greatest job."

He was also a ubiquitous and hugely effective TV pitchman, on the Tonight Show and off, enthusiastically hawking everything from dog food to shampoo.

McMahon was so strongly identified as a sweepstakes spokesman, he is often erroneously associated with Publishers Clearing House, when in fact he represented its cloned competition, American Family Publishers, which folded in 2001.

Second-generation fans will primarily associate McMahon with his popular solo show Star Search, which ran from 1983 to 1995 (a remake hosted by Arsenio Hall ran from 2002 to 2004), bridging the gap between 1950s' Amateur Hour and the current ratings champ American Idol.

The textbook template for the contemporary TV talent competition, Star Search showcased up-and-coming young performers in several categories, vying for votes from judges and the studio audience.

The Carson Tonight Show was, in its day, the acknowledged essential launching pad of showbiz superstardom, particularly in comedy.

But Star Search introduced and/or advanced the careers of some of the most currently successful names in variety entertainment, including singers Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears (all pre-Mickey Mouse Club), Usher, Alanis Morissette, LeAnn Rimes and Jessica Simpson, and "spokesmodel" Sharon Stone.

Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. was born in Detroit in March of 1923, following his vaudevillian father onto the boardwalk of Atlantic City as a demonstrator/salesman of handy-dandy kitchen gadgets.

He left a budding career as a radio announcer to enlist in the marines as a fighter pilot near the end of World War II and flew 85 combat missions in the Korean War, for which he was decorated six times.

Moving on to television, McMahon worked variously as an announcer, host and even kiddie-show clown.

He first hooked up with Carson in the late 1950s as the announcer on his quiz show, Who do You Trust?, then came along with him in 1962 when Carson took over The Tonight Show from Jack Paar.

McMahon was left essentially adrift after Carson retired in 1992 and Star Search ended three years later, and his co-hosting gig on Dick Clark's TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes three years after that.

His later years were plagued by devastating financial setbacks, almost losing his home in Beverly Hills last year over lapsed payments on close to $5 million (U.S.) in mortgages.

His health deteriorated rapidly after breaking his neck in a fall at a friend's home in 2007. He was checked into hospital last February with pneumonia and again a few months ago for several unspecified ailments.

He leaves his third wife, fashion designer Pam Hurn, and five children – Claudia, Katherine, Linda, Jeffrey and Lex – from previous marriages.


Ellie

RIP