'Tonight Show' Icon Ed McMahon Dies

[Ginny]

http://www.wtov9.com/entertainment/1...07180106232009

NBC: 'Tonight Show' Icon Ed McMahon Dies
Carson Sidekick Reportedly Spent Month In Hospital

LOS ANGELES -- NBC News reports that Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick of Johnny Carson on the "Tonight Show," has died after long battle with cancer.

The network home of the "Tonight Show" confirmed the television icon's death with McMahon's publicist, Howard Bragman.

He was 86.

McMahon was recently hospitalized at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital in Los Angeles for a bout of pneumonia.

McMahon began his televsion career as an announcer on television legend Dick Clark's "American Bandstand," in 1952, and worked on the show until 1958.

The entertainer started as Carson's sidekick in 1962, and worked alongside Carson for 30 years. On the "Tonight Show," McMahon became famous for creating the catchphrase "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!"

McMahon also hosted the talent show "Star Search" and co-hosted "TV Bloopers And Practical Jokes" with fellow television legend Dick Clark. He later became a mainstay on commercials as the presenter of giant checks for the American Family Publishers sweepstakes.

McMahon's bankruptcy proceedings brought the aging Californian back into the limelight last year.