AllMovie

Factsheet

• Contracted tuberculosis when he was 14, and dropped out of school at 16.
• Overcame a stuttering problem to become a successful radio announcer.
• During WWII, entertained the troops overseas after being drafted.
• Made national headlines in 1960 after he walked off The Tonight Show when NBC censored a joke about a "water closet." He returned three weeks later.
• Had performance footage of the Beatles on his NBC variety series a month before their breakthrough appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.