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.