Johnny Carson: The guests
More than 22,000 guests appeared on “The Tonight Show” during Johnny Carson’s 30-year tenure as host. That’s enough to fill a couch 8 miles long. A sampling of names:
Movies
Woody Allen, Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall, Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Chevy Chase, Cher, Glenn Close, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Joan Crawford, Tom Cruise, Billy Crystal, Tony Curtis, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, Judy Garland, Lillian Gish, Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks, Rex Harrison, Charlton Heston, Dustin Hoffman, William Holden, Anthony Hopkins, Rock Hudson, Gene Kelly, Burt Lancaster, Jack Lemmon, Steve Martin, Walter Matthau, Robert Mitchum, Eddie Murphy, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Orson Welles, Robin Williams, Natalie Wood.
Television
Steve Allen, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Bill Cosby, Walter Cronkite, Ted Danson, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Gleason, Arsenio Hall, Pee-wee Herman, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Michael Landon, Angela Lansbury, Dean Martin, Groucho Marx, Mary Tyler Moore, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Jack Paar, Burt Reynolds, Don Rickles, Roy Rogers, Roseanne, Tom Selleck, Phil Silvers, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Danny Thomas.
Music
Paul Anka, Louis Armstrong, the Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Clint Black, David Bowie, James Brown, the Carpenters, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Placido Domingo, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Jimi Hendrix, Lena Horne, Jefferson Airplane, John Lennon, Liberace, Little Richard, Madonna, Johnny Mathis, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, the Supremes, Lawrence Welk, Stevie Wonder, ZZ Top.
Sports
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe, Wilt Chamberlain, Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson, Billie Jean King, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mickey Mantle, Joe Namath, Pete Rose.
Politics
Bill Clinton, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, George Wallace.