Ed Sullivan was one of American history’s most famous and best-loved TV presenters. He hosted The Ed Sullivan Show, which was on TV for a very long time and was a big success. He won people’s hearts worldwide and had a fantastic talent for choosing the most famous stars to appear on his show, which gave them the chance to become famous.
But behind the scenes, the star had many secrets, including feuds with some of his most famous guests.
Look at the fantastic story of this TV legend’s rise to fame.
Ed Sullivan was born Edward Vincent Sullivan on 28 September 1901 in Harlem, New York City. He grew up in an Irish-American family that loved music and entertainment.
He was a star player on his school’s baseball, basketball, and football teams.
But his early life was also full of romance and tragedy. He fell in love with Sybil Bauer, an Olympic swimmer, and they later got engaged.
Sadly, Sybil died of cancer in 1924 when she was only 23, and Sullivan was devastated.
But about two years after losing Sybil, his heart began to heal. So, when he met Sylvia Weinstein, he was ready to fall in love again. They got married in 1930.
After getting married and settling down, Sullivan left his high school sports career and started working in the news and entertainment industry.
His column in the New York Daily News, “Little Old New York,” was about theatre and entertainment gossip, which made him very famous.
By 1941, Sullivan was so popular that CBS invited him to host their TV show Summer Silver Theater, which made him a superstar.
In 1953, Sullivan invited Broadway director Joshua Logan onto his show. Logan spoke openly about his experiences with mental illness and his time in a psychiatric institution.
This was a big moment for raising awareness of mental illness in America, and Sullivan thought it was one of the most important things he had ever done.
Another important moment happened on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. On 9 September 1956, rock and roll became the music that everyone in America loved. This was thanks to the first performance of Elvis Presley, who was known as “The King of Rock and Roll.”
In 1964, Ed Sullivan introduced another band to his show. This time, it was the Beatles, a group of four musicians from Liverpool, England.
Their first performance on the show was watched by 74 million people, over a third of the entire US population of 191 million at the time!
By 1954, the show had gained over 12 million regular viewers; by the sixties, the number had risen to 14 million.
Sadly, Ed Sullivan’s life in retirement and out of the spotlight was short.
In 1974, his family found out that he had a rare and severe form of cancer in his throat.
He died just a few weeks later, on 13 October 1974, at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital.
More than 3,000 people attended his funeral at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
Even though it was almost 50 years ago, he is still greatly remembered, and his influence on the entertainment industry is still felt today.
The place where his famous show was filmed is still popular today, and other popular entertainment programs are also filmed there. However, it is essential to remember that Ed Sullivan inspired these later shows.
The theatre is now called The Ed Sullivan Theatre and has hosted popular talk shows like The Late Show with David Letterman and Stephen Colbert.
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