American television producer, Perry Cross has been reported dead by his family. According to his son Larry, The Tonight Show producer died of kidney cancer on March 9, 2023. He was 95 years old at the time of death.
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He was the first producer on The Tonight Show before he left to join ABC on a program hosted by Jerry Lewis for 13 episodes.
Cross started his career in 1952 when he began producing Ernie Kovac’s CBS weekday morning show. He also worked on several shows including The Red Skelton Hour, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Soupy Sales Show, Life With Linkletter, The Gary Moore Show, and more. He also worked closely with Jonathan Winters for his specials.
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Hewas also the producer of Carson on the daytime quiz show, Who Do You Trust? on NBC. The two became very close and hang out together oftentimes.
“We went out every night, we went to different places, we laughed,” Cross shared during an episode on The Carson Podcast.
”We were all drinkers in those days. That didn’t hurt,” he added.
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