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Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of a popular TV variety show called The Ed Sullivan Show that was at its height of popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1948, the CBS network hired Sullivan to do a weekly Sunday night TV variety show, Toast of the Town, which later became The Ed Sullivan Show. Debuting in June 1948, the show was broadcast from CBS Studio 50, at 1697 Broadway (at 53rd Street) in New York City, which in 1967 was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater (and is now the home of The Late Show with David Letterman).

There was another side to Sullivan: he could be very quick to take offense if he felt he had been crossed, and could hold a grudge for a long time. This could unfortunately be seen as a part of his TV personality. Jackie Mason, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, and The Doors became intimately familiar with Sullivan`s negative side. On November 20, 1955, Bo Diddley was asked by Sullivan to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford`s hit "Sixteen Tons", Come air time, Diddley sang his #2 hit song "Bo Diddley". He was banned from the show.

By 1971, the show was no longer in television`s top 20. New CBS executives, who wanted to attract younger viewers, canceled the show along with virtually all of the network`s oldest shows. Sullivan was so upset and angry that he refused to do a final show, although he did return to CBS for several TV specials and a 25th-anniversary show in 1973. One year later, the man known as "Big Old Stoney Face" died October 13th, 1974 of esophageal cancer at age 73 at New York`s Lenox Hill Hospital, coincidentally on a Sunday night. His funeral was attended by 3,000 at St. Patrick`s Cathedral, New York on a cold, rainy day. Sullivan is interred in a crypt at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Sullivan was married to the former Sylvia Weinstein from April 28, 1930, until her death on March 16, 1973. They had one daughter, Betty Sullivan (who married the Sullivan show`s producer, Bob Precht). Sullivan was in the habit of calling Sylvia after every program to get her immediate critique. Sullivan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd.