Ed McMahon Hospitalized Due to Pneumonia

The Paramount Theater

Ed McMahon, longtime sidekick to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, has been hospitalized for almost a month now because of pneumonia as well as other health problems, the host’s representative said Friday.

According to Howard Bragman, McMahon is presently being cared for in the intensive care unit of an unnamed medical center. The publicist tells Reuters, "It's serious. He's an 85-year old man with a number of medical issues going on."

As to claims that McMahon, who turns 86 next week, has been diagnosed with bone cancer, the spokesman gave neither a confirmation nor a denial, disclosing only that the former host of Star Search is suffering from pneumonia. An Entertainment Tonight source claims that McMahon's wife, Pam, has been keeping a bedside vigil, and that her "deep faith is helping her through this difficult time."

The veteran host’s hospitalization comes after he made news in 2008 when he went on default on his $44.8 million mortgage on his Beverly Hills estate, which was later bought to prevent foreclosure.