Peter Lassally, late-night producer behind Carson and Letterman, dies at 93
The Emmy-winning producer helped shape decades of late-night TV after surviving the Holocaust and rebuilding his life in New York.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Peter Lassally, the producer who helped steer late-night television through the eras of Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, has died at 93, according to Deadline.
Deadline reported that Lassally died Sunday, July 19. Over a career that stretched across more than five decades in show business, he became one of the quieter but most trusted forces behind some of American TV’s best-known late-night desks.
Lassally produced The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, later worked with Letterman on Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Show with David Letterman, and went on to produce The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Deadline reported that he retired at 82, around the time Ferguson was leaving the show and James Corden was taking over.
From wartime Europe to New York television
Lassally was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1932 to a Jewish family, Deadline reported. After the Nazis rose to power, his family fled to the Netherlands. His sister attended school with Anne Frank, according to the report.
During World War II, Lassally, his mother and his sister were held at the Westerbork transit camp and later at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, Deadline reported. The family survived the Holocaust and moved to New York in 1947.
His first steps in entertainment were far from the executive producer’s chair. Deadline reported that Lassally worked as an NBC page and as an usher at Radio City Music Hall, where he was alongside his friend Regis Philbin. He later moved into radio and then worked for Arthur Godfrey.
A steady hand in late night
Lassally joined Carson’s Tonight Show in 1972 and eventually became its executive producer, according to Deadline. After Carson retired in 1992, Lassally linked up with Letterman, first at NBC and then in Letterman’s move to CBS.
Deadline reported that Lassally was viewed as a key figure in Letterman’s shift to CBS for The Late Show. He also backed Ferguson for the host’s chair at The Late Late Show.
His influence reached beyond the shows he officially produced. Deadline reported that Lassally was a confidant to comedians including Garry Shandling and Jon Stewart. Stewart had a holding deal with Letterman’s company, and Lassally wanted him to succeed Tom Snyder after Letterman, though the job went to Craig Kilborn. Stewart later replaced Kilborn on The Daily Show.
Shandling described Lassally’s gift in a 2012 NPR interview, saying, “One of Peter’s real strengths is getting the host to understand how to listen, how to ask the questions that an audience might want to hear, and to listen to the answer and to not be thinking ahead with the joke.”
In a 2014 interview with the Television Academy, Lassally said respect for talent helped him last in television. “If you are really talented, I will put up with your craziness,” he said, naming Godfrey, Carson, Letterman and Tom Snyder among the broadcasters he had worked with.
Lassally received 13 Emmy nominations during his career, Deadline reported. He won twice: in 1992 for The Tonight Show and in 1994 for The Late Show.
Family remembers his resilience
Lassally is survived by children from his marriage to Alice Lassally, including daughter Andrea Gibbin and son Tom Lassally, who works at 3 Arts, Deadline reported. He is also survived by four grandchildren: Walker Gibbin, Eloise Gibbin, Annabel Lassally and Owen Lassally.
In a family statement reported by Deadline, relatives said family carried special meaning for Lassally after his childhood experiences during the Holocaust and his later life in America.
“Watching his children build lives of their own and seeing his grandchildren grow into adulthood brought him immense joy,” the family said. “Those closest to him knew that no professional accomplishment ever meant more to him than the people around his own table.”
The family added that Lassally’s life was marked by “resilience, generosity, curiosity, and optimism,” and said friends remembered his wit, humility and ease with others.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.