Ed McMahon remembered for active humor, spirit

LOS ANGELES – At a accolade to the backward accessory of "The Tonight Show," Ed McMahon was remembered as a attenuate alone in the ball industry — a man whom "100 percent of the bodies liked," amateur Tom Arnold said.

Arnold, who formed with McMahon on the 1997 WB ball "The Tom Show," said he envisioned him greeting "Tonight" host Johnny Carson in heaven.

"Hey, Johnny, abundant news: I brought Farrah (Fawcett) and Michael Jackson with me. We're gonna accept a hell of a appearance tonight," Arnold said, cartoon action from the admirers of several hundred at the Wednesday night tribute.

The commemoration at the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences featured performances of "My Way" and added songs, forth with austere salutes from Marines in dress uniforms who presented U.S. flags to McMahon's family.

McMahon, 86, died June 23 afterwards a continued analysis for several bloom problems. He had burst his close in a abatement in March 2007, and battled a alternation of banking problems as his injuries prevented him from working.

The accolade focused on his alive amusement and spirit.

"For my dad, activity was a festival, a celebratory experience," said son Jeff McMahon. "No break was anytime mundane."

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Mike Lehnert said few knew of McMahon's aggressive almanac because "he didn't advertise it."

Lehnert anecdotal McMahon's account in World War II as a flight adviser and analysis pilot, his time in the Marine Reserves and his acknowledgment to alive assignment in the Korean War. He flew 85 missions and retired as a abounding colonel in 1966.

"You lived your activity at abounding throttle," Lehnert said.

TV host Leeza Gibbons alleged McMahon a affectionate "big brother" and an inspiration.

"He could host anything, he could advertise anything. And he never anytime absent his air-conditioned on camera," she said.

Two oversized, affected images of McMahon busy the date in the auditorium. One showed the accustomed business-suited TV entertainer. The other, a portrait, depicted McMahon in a flight clothing with two aggressive planes aloft abaft him.

Daughter Linda McMahon recalled him as a scholar, a poet, a clairvoyant of classics, a applesauce fan and a generous, big-hearted man who "didn't apperceive the acceptation of the chat 'no.'"

"Until we accommodated again, Dad, blow now in peace. We adulation you forever," she said.

Before the tribute, Pam McMahon afraid aback tears as she batten about her husband. She backward by his ancillary during the bristles months he was ailing afore his death.

"He absolutely was one of the best admirable men I anytime met in my absolute life," she said. "He was such a good, acceptable man. He was admiring and affectionate to me and had such a authentic heart."