As the year draws to a close, we look back on notable celebrities who passed
away during 2005.
JOHNNY CARSON Oct. 23, 1925 - Jan. 23, 2005
He didn't invent the late-night talk show, but as the third host of NBC's
venerable "The Tonight Show" (following Steve Allen and Jack
... moreParr), Johnny Carson became one of TV's most beloved, reassuring
figures, the man who tucked America in at night with an affable parade of
celebrity guests, skits and off-the-cuff banter teed off by his signature
monologues. Carson earned the cachet of a true Hollywood insider, but he
reflected his Midwestern roots with an outsider's detachment and an endearing
modesty. When he signed off in 1993, he was at the top of his form but resisted
any valedictory comebacks, retreating into relative seclusion at his Malibu
home. His death in January, from emphysema, was followed late in the year by the
passing of two other familiar "Tonight Show" fixtures, original musical director
and conductor Skitch Henderson (Jan. 27, 1918 - Nov. 1, 2005) and comedian and
"man in the street" Louis Nye (May 1, 1913 - Oct. 9, 2005), one of the funniest
regulars on Steve Allen's watch as host. Close
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