Actor, director, producer. Johnny Stearns wrote and starred in early television's popular, live "Mary Kay and Johnny" show along with his real-life wife Mary Kay (nee Mary Katherine Jones, married August 11, 1946), playing themselves in what is considered the medium's first situation comedy, which premiered in the autumn of 1947. They portrayed a pair of youthful New York newlyweds; Johnny was a practical banker and Mary Kay was a problem-prone housewife. "It was tremendously popular actually at the time, because there was very little else on TV," Mary Kay Stearns said in an interview at the time her husband died at 85, and the episodes were often dramatizations of incidents that actually had happened to them. "However," Mary Kay said, "obviously, they were made much funnier than when it actually happened."
It aired over the DuMont Television Network and later moved to NBC and CBS.
Johnny Stearns later produced Steve Allen shows on WNBC-TV in New York and produced and directed "The Arthur Murray Dance Party" on NBC. From 1961 to 1990 in Los Angeles, he began a long-running career as producer and host of 1,000 episodes of NBC's "Agriculture U.S.A." (later known as "AG-USA"). Johnny recorded a promo for the final episode of the show only days before he died of complications from a fall.
At age 14, Johnny made his Broadway debut in "Night Music" with the Group Theater and performed in "One Touch of Venus" with Mary Martin, "On the Town" and "Are You With It."
It aired over the DuMont Television Network and later moved to NBC and CBS.
Johnny Stearns later produced Steve Allen shows on WNBC-TV in New York and produced and directed "The Arthur Murray Dance Party" on NBC. From 1961 to 1990 in Los Angeles, he began a long-running career as producer and host of 1,000 episodes of NBC's "Agriculture U.S.A." (later known as "AG-USA"). Johnny recorded a promo for the final episode of the show only days before he died of complications from a fall.
At age 14, Johnny made his Broadway debut in "Night Music" with the Group Theater and performed in "One Touch of Venus" with Mary Martin, "On the Town" and "Are You With It."
Actor, director, producer. Johnny Stearns wrote and starred in early television's popular, live "Mary Kay and Johnny" show along with his real-life wife Mary Kay (nee Mary Katherine Jones, married August 11, 1946), playing themselves in what is considered the medium's first situation comedy, which premiered in the autumn of 1947. They portrayed a pair of youthful New York newlyweds; Johnny was a practical banker and Mary Kay was a problem-prone housewife. "It was tremendously popular actually at the time, because there was very little else on TV," Mary Kay Stearns said in an interview at the time her husband died at 85, and the episodes were often dramatizations of incidents that actually had happened to them. "However," Mary Kay said, "obviously, they were made much funnier than when it actually happened."
It aired over the DuMont Television Network and later moved to NBC and CBS.
Johnny Stearns later produced Steve Allen shows on WNBC-TV in New York and produced and directed "The Arthur Murray Dance Party" on NBC. From 1961 to 1990 in Los Angeles, he began a long-running career as producer and host of 1,000 episodes of NBC's "Agriculture U.S.A." (later known as "AG-USA"). Johnny recorded a promo for the final episode of the show only days before he died of complications from a fall.
At age 14, Johnny made his Broadway debut in "Night Music" with the Group Theater and performed in "One Touch of Venus" with Mary Martin, "On the Town" and "Are You With It."
It aired over the DuMont Television Network and later moved to NBC and CBS.
Johnny Stearns later produced Steve Allen shows on WNBC-TV in New York and produced and directed "The Arthur Murray Dance Party" on NBC. From 1961 to 1990 in Los Angeles, he began a long-running career as producer and host of 1,000 episodes of NBC's "Agriculture U.S.A." (later known as "AG-USA"). Johnny recorded a promo for the final episode of the show only days before he died of complications from a fall.
At age 14, Johnny made his Broadway debut in "Night Music" with the Group Theater and performed in "One Touch of Venus" with Mary Martin, "On the Town" and "Are You With It."
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