US TV legend Johnny Carson dies aged 79

JOHNNY CARSON, the Tonight Show host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter and droll comedy for 30 years, died yesterday aged 79.

NBC television reported that Carson died of emphysema at his Malibu home.

Carson, the boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched the wry tales of multiple divorces and Carson's air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

"Heeeeere's Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent".

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

His personal life could not match his career. Carson was married four times and divorced three. In 1991, one of his three sons, 39-year-old Ricky, was killed in a car accident.

Nearly all of Carson's professional life was spent in television, from his post-war start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Politics provided monologue fodder for him as he skewered lawmakers of every stripe, mirroring the mood of voters. His Watergate jabs at President Richard Nixon were seen as cementing Nixon's fall from office in 1974. He made presidential history again in July 1988 when he had then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton on his show a few days after Clinton came under widespread ridicule for a boring speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Clinton traded quips with Carson and played Summertime on the saxophone in what was hailed as a stunning comeback.