Johnny Carson Net Worth

Johnny Carson's Quotes

• Married men live longer than single men. But married men are a lot more willing to die.
• If life was fair, Elvis [Elvis Presley] would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.
• People will pay more to be entertained than educated.
• If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners.
• Happiness is seeing the muscular lifeguard all the girls were admiring leave the beach hand in hand with another muscular lifeguard.

Interesting Facts about Johnny Carson

1. Lived in Norfolk, NE, for a decade from the age of eight until his induction into the US Navy in 1943. He made donations totaling nearly $5 million to causes and organizations there, including the Carson Regional Cancer Center (named after his parents), the high school's Johnny Carson Theater, the Norfolk Public Library, the Norfolk Arts Center, the Elkhorn Valley Museum and Research Center, and the Lifelong Learning Center at Northeast Community College. He last visited Norfolk in 1997 when he attended his former penmanship teacher Fay Gordon's 100th birthday party.
2. Was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1987.
3. When he retired in 1992, he held the record for hosting the same network series for the longest time: 29 years, 7 months, 21 days. The record was broken by Bob Barker on The New Price Is Right (1972) in 2002.
4. Had a lifelong interest in magic and sent away for a mail-order magic kit when he was 12. Soon he started performing for bridge clubs and church socials as a 14-year-old magician/comic, under the name "The Great Carsoni." Plied his magic tricks in early performing days of the 1950s in places like the Seven Seas Lounge in Omaha, NE.
5. Once appeared on Bandstand (1952) and stood in for a drummer.
6. One of his early jobs was as a ventriloquist.
7. At the tenth anniversary party for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) on 9/30/72, he announced that he and former model Joanna Holland had married that afternoon, shocking friends and associates.
8. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.
9. First wife, Joan "Jody" Morrill Wolcott, was his college sweetheart. They divorced and in 1990 she lost a suit trying to increase the alimony that she was receiving. Their son, Richard Wolcott Carson, was killed on 6/21/91 after his car plunged down a steep embankment along a coastal road. The accident apparently occurred while he was taking pictures along a paved service road off Hwy. 1 near Cayucos, north of San Luis Obispo (CA). Carson had two other sons: Christopher and Cory Carson.
10. In April 1967 he walked off The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) convinced that NBC had violated his contract by showing reruns during an AFTRA strike. He refused to go back to work when the strike ended and won a new contract that reportedly guaranteed him an income in excess of $4 million for the following three years.
11. The story goes he met his last wife, Alexis Mass, when he saw her strolling along the beach near his Malibu home holding an empty wine glass. He left his house and offered to fill the glass up for her.
12. Son of Homer Carson, who was manager of the Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Company, and homemaker Ruth Carson. Brother of Dick Carson, and Catharine Carson. Uncle of Jeff Sotzing. Former stepfather of Joe Holland. His brother Dick Carson was at one time producer/director of The Merv Griffin Show (1962) in the 1970s and produced/directed over 3200 episodes of the network and syndicated versions of Wheel of Fortune (1983).
13. On 3/8/83 Joanna 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 Starring Johnny Carson (1962), "My producer (Frederick De Cordova) really gave me something I needed for Christmas. He gave me a gift certificate to the Law Offices of Jacoby and Meyers". The divorce was settled in 1985 in an 80-page settlement, Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property.
14. Although he announced on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: The last Tonight Show (1992) (his final episode) that he hoped to return soon with a new project, he chose to fully retire from the public eye instead and declined invitations to appear on talk shows and NBC anniversary specials. He did made a few exceptions over the years: He provided a guest voice for The Simpsons: Krusty Gets Kancelled (1993), and he brought the house down with a brief, surprise appearance on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) to congratulate Letterman on his new show.
15. After a protracted divorce from his second wife, Joanne Carson, she got nearly $500,000 in cash and art and $75,000 a year in alimony for life.
16. The first guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) was Groucho Marx, who introduced the host (reacting to the ensuing applause, Carson said, "Boy, you would think it was Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson"). Carson's last guest was Bette Midler, who sang him out.
17. Co-wrote "Johnny's Theme" with Paul Anka when he signed on in 1962 as the new host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).
18. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 95-97. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
19. During one live dog-food commercial on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), when a stunt dog failed to appear on cue, Johnny came out on all fours, panting and licking announcer Ed McMahon's hand, to keep the commercial going.
20. Celebrated New Year's Eve once in his teens by shooting off his father's rifle at midnight, accidentally taking out the family water heater.