John W. Carson

(1925-2005) lived in Norfolk, Madison County, and in Lincoln and Omaha. Comedian, host of NBC-TV’s “The Tonight Show” for 30 years, recipient of four Emmy Awards for outstanding personal achievement, and the George Foster Peabody Award in 1985, inducted into Emmy Hall of Fame in 1987, appeared on cover of Time, May 19, 1967, and cover of Newsweek, September 1, 1969, recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, ranked second (behind Lucille Ball) greatest TV star of all time by TV Guide, December 14-20, 1996; his star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Consult Current Biography (1982) 61-64 and Omaha World Herald, May 23, 1992, pp. 1, 14 and Esquire, June 2002, pp. 88-95, 124, 128-130 and AARP, July/August 2002, pp. 40, 41, 43-44, 72 and Lincoln Journal Star, August 3, 2003, pp. C-1, C-4 and obituary in New York Times, January 24, 2005, pp. A-1, A-18, A-19.

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