David Letterman BiographyDavid Michael Letterman has made a name for himself as one of America’s leading late night talk show hosts in a career that has spanned decades. He is best known for his show, Late Show with David Letterman, which airs on CBS.
Letterman was born on April 12, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joe, was a florist who died in 1974. His mother, Dorothy, is still living and occasionally makes appearances on his show. While Letterman was growing up she worked as a church secretary. He has one older sister, Janice and one younger sister, Gretchen.
After Letterman received his diploma from Broad Ripple High School, he attended Ball State University where he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity. He graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications in 1969. While in college, he began his broadcasting career by working on the student-run radio station WAGO AM 570. It was while he was still in school that he met his first wife, Michelle Cook.
Following college, Letterman worked as a local anchor and weatherman for the Indianapolis television station WLW-I. There, Letterman developed his sense of humor, channeling his early influences, Johnny Carson and Steve Allen. He was known for being unpredictable, once congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane. That remark reportedly upset his bosses.
Letterman made the move out to Los Angeles in 1975 in the hopes of becoming a comedy writer for sitcoms. Once there he also began developing his act as a stand up comedian performing at The Comedy Store. By 1977, after making guest appearances on shows like Mork & Mindy, Letterman caught the attention of scouts for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. By 1978, Letterman had become a regular guest host on Carson’s show.
After his stint as guest host, NBC gave Letterman his own morning comedy show called, The David Letterman Show. Although the show won two Emmy Awards, its low ratings forced the show to be cancelled in 1980. NBC was not discouraged however and decided to keep Letterman under contract and they offered him a late night talk show instead. Late Night with David Letterman quickly developed a cult following.
In 1992, after Carson announced his retirement, NBC decided to replace the iconic host with Jay Leno even though Carson had expressed the desire to pass his show onto Letterman. This caused Letterman to opt out of his contract the NBC in 1993 and switch to CBS where he held the same time slot as Leno. Since moving to CBS, Letterman has been nominated for sixty-seven Emmy Awards, winning twelve of them.
Other business endeavors for Letterman include forming his own production company, called Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show has produced several shows including: Everybody Loves Raymond and The Late Late Show.
Letterman does his best to keep his private life private. In 1969 he married his college sweetheart, Michelle Cook. They divorced eight years later in 1977. His next serious relationship was with the head writer on Late Night, Merrill Markoe, with whom he was engaged at one point. He has been with his current fiancé, Regina Lasko, for the past thirteen years. They welcomed their first child into the world, Harry Joseph, on November 3, 2003.
It was to be another 6 years before Letterman would share his name with the mother of his child. But, on March 19th 2009, Letterman finally married his girlfriend of 23 years with the couple’s 5 year old son, Harry, in attendance at the ceremony which took place at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Montana. YUDDY | 
