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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.
Son,
Harry Letterman,
in a 2008 photo.
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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
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