Editing Johnny Carson (section)

=== Children ===
[[File:Johnny Carson and sons 1955.JPG|thumb|upright|Carson reading a story to his three sons in 1955]]
Carson had three sons with his first wife: Christopher (born 1950), Kim Arthur "Ricky" (1951&ndash;1991) and Barry William "Cory" (born 1953). 

His middle son, Ricky, died in a car accident in 1991 while shooting nature photographs. Upon Carson's return to air a few weeks later, he delivered a lengthy tribute to his son at the end of the show&mdash;a moment interrupted by his producer, [[Fred de Cordova]], who gave Carson the signal to "wrap it up" because the show was running overtime. The incident led to de Cordova being banned from the studio floor for the remainder of the show’s tenure. 

During his final ''Tonight Show'' broadcasts in May 1992, Carson brought his two surviving sons onto the stage, while the final episode included one of his late son’s nature photographs for the final credit roll.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmRhfnUGzO4 |title=The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, NBC, May 22, 1992 |date=2021-10-27 |last=News from the Past |access-date=2025-03-03 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Johnny Carson's 3 Children: All About the Late TV Host's Sons — and the Rare Shout-out He Gave Them During His Final 'Tonight Show' Broadcast |url=https://people.com/all-about-johnny-carson-children-8778714 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=People.com |language=en}}</ref>