The beloved U.S. Television icon Ed McMahon died at the age of 86. This former Tonight show sidekick passed away at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The Tonight Show host and the legendary TV star had been battling ill health for some time. Doctors diagnosed him with systemic bone cancer and he was being admitted for pneumonia since February in the hospital.

Ed McMahon was Johnny’ Carson’s sidekick forever and hosted blooper shows & Star Search. He also made a special guest voice in on The Simpsons. The booming voice and barking laugh were the traits of his personality.

When his voice changed at adolescence, McMahon did part time work calling bingo games. He also worked as a street vendor and carnival barker, as well as became an unseen voice in many TV and radio commercials. McMahon also got dummy’s job where he was required to laugh extra loud at Carson’s jokes. For thirty years, his job was to laugh and shout “Heeeeere’s Johnny!”.

Ed McMahon also acted in cheesy movies and sitcoms, became Jerry Lewis’s co-host on muscular dystrophy telethons and hosted “specials” on T.V. He stopped endorsing products since breaking his neck in a fall in 2006.

“Ed McMahon’s voice at 11:30 was a signal that something great was about to happen. Ed was a true broadcaster, and an integral part of Johnny Carson’s ‘Tonight Show.’ We will miss him," said Letterman.

"I am deeply saddened by today’s news about Ed McMahon. He is responsible for giving so many artists their first shot, including myself. … He was a wonderful man and will be greatly missed", Britney Spears Tweeted on Tuesday.

McMahon’s last years were surrounded by legal troubles and financial difficulties. When he fell at a friend’s house, he sued the homeowners and doctors at a Los Angeles hospital claiming that he was misdiagnosed for neck fracture.

He filed various lawsuits related to mold at his California mansion and was facing financial difficulties. All this would have ended up in Ed McMahon losing his home and falling behind on mortgage payments.

The main cause of Ed McMahon’s death is still not confirmed. He is survived by his wife Pam Hurn and five children.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 4:11 am and is filed under Celebrity News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.