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Irish-American icon Ed McMahon dies at 86


Published Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 10:00 AM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:59 PM

 

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Ed McMahon: 1923-2009
Ed McMahon: 1923-2009

Legendary TV personality Ed McMahon has died at the age of 86.

The Irish American, who defined the role of the television “sidekick” as Johnny Carson’s loyal right-hand-man on the “Tonight Show” for 30 years, died shortly after midnight on Tuesday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

At his bedside was his wife, Pam, and other family members according to his publicist, Howard Bragman.

The exact cause of death is unknown, but Bragman said that McMahon had a “multitude of health problems the last few months,” including bone cancer.

The man who coined the famous phrase “Heeeere’s Johnny!” was born Edward Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. to an Irish-American family in Detroit, Michigan on March 6, 1923.

While growing up in New York City, New Jersey and Massachusetts (and other places including Philadelphia for a very short time), Ed McMahon attended 15 different schools. His Irish Catholic father was a part-time entertainer and full-time promoter. The family was constantly on the move.

McMahon’s dad was a promoter, an entrepreneur, a traveling salesman, and a fundraiser for charities and hospitals and clubs by selling punch boards and running bingo games, which is how McMahon got his first gig calling bingo.

His mother's name was Eleanor Russell and was Pennsylvania Dutch, was raised in her grandmother's theatrical boardinghouse and was a local actress.

McMahon used to spend some of his summers with his dad's parents, Joseph F. and Katherine Fitzgerald McMahon of Lowell, Massachusetts. His grandfather was the founder of the J. F. McMahon Plumbing Company and he was a master plumber.

His grandmother was a cousin of Rose Kennedy, whose maiden name was Fitzgerald (like John Fitzgerald Kennedy).

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