MAIN Art &... Pop Culture TV Stars David Letterman

The self-proclaimed "King of Late Night, David Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 12, 1947 to Harry Letterman, a florist, and Dorothy Letterman, a church secretary, who today regularly plays the part of "straight-man" on her son's show.

Following high school, the corn-fed Midwest kid would later study radio and television at Ball State University, where he received a B.A. in telecommunications in 1969.

Letterman's professional career began at several Indianapollis area radio stations and as achor and weatherman for WTHR.

Letterman's unique and irreverent brand of humor soon became evident in his next project, as host of a late night show called Freeze-Dried Movies, in which he regularly blew up a miniature replica of the television station to close each broadcast.

Moving to Los Angeles to write TV comedy material and sitcoms, Letterman's big break came in 1980 when he was offered the spot of regular guest host on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson which led to his own daytime David Letterman Show.

This subsequently resulted in a permanent spot in the "late late-night" lineup following Johnny Carson which premiered February 1, 1982 and instantly gained a huge following among young viewers with now-famous stock skits including Stupid Pet Tricks, Stupid Human Tricks, Viewer Mail and the The Top Ten List.

To Letterman's obvious dismay, NBC chose Jay Leno in 1992 as the replacement for the retiring Johnny Carson. A year later, Letterman moved to CBS with a lucrative deal to host The Late Show with David Letterman, spawning a ratings war - opposite The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - that continues to this day.

Numerous Emmy Awards later, a decade would pass before a career high for the late-night host came in 2002, when Letterman received the Peabody Award for taking "one of TV's most conventional and least inventive forms - the talk show - and infusing it with freshness and imagination."

In 2005, Letterman won for Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host at the People's Choice Awards.

In December he was making headlines again for making peace with Oprah Winfrey, when he finally booked the Queen of Daytime on his show.

Letterman has often and irreverently poked fun at Winfrey for her refusal to appear on his show, a fact based on Oprah's rumored dislike for the Letterman's brand of humor. However, Winfrey's appearance in December 2005 ended a long-standing feud between the two, followed by Letterman's reciprocal appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show in early 2007.

In 2009, Letterman had an equally buzzed-about clash with another female celebrity, in Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, after making an off-color joke about her teen daughter on air. Letterman later apologized, but continued to relentlessly poke run at the Republican vice presidential candidate which by and large continues to this day.

The popular funny man, who married long-time housemate Regina Lasko in early 2009, was back in the news again several months later, making tabloid headlines for his self-confessed affairs with Late Night show staffers. Letterman confirmed the relationships after falling the victim to a blackmail attempt by Joe Halderman, a former CBS news journalist, who threatened to reveal that Letterman had had sex with more than one of his female employees. Halderman was later indicted on extortion charges.

Wife Reginia is mother to the couple's son, Harry, born in 2003.

More about David Letterman around the Web:

Late Show with David Letterman - The official CBS site featuring photos, cast bios, video clips, community forum.

David Letterman - Wikipedia - The complete biography including personal details, career highlights, related photos, references and resources.

David Letterman - TV.com - Bio, photo gallery and current news headlines.

The Late Show with David Letterman - "Best of" clips, from YouTube.

DDY's Late Show with David Letterman Fan Page - Current schedule and guest lists, and some 18 picture galleries of the star in photo shoots, screen captures, magazine and book covers, including childhood photos and pictures with mom...plus related links and article archive.

also see in TV Stars -> Jay Leno | Oprah Winfrey