David W. Tebet, 91; NBC Executive Recruited Johnny Carson for ‘The Tonight Show’

David W. Tebet, a television talent executive who recruited Johnny Carson for NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and went on to become vice president of Carson’s production company, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Tebet died at the Coronado, Calif., home of his nephew, Dr. Ralph Greenspan, of complications from a stroke.

A former theater publicist in New York, Tebet in 1959 became NBC’s vice president for talent -- or as comedian George Burns liked to call him, “the vice president in charge of caring.”

It was Tebet’s job to spot and recruit stars for the network and to keep them happy so they would stay, building ratings and profits. He passed out perks, stroked egos and made problems go away.

Among the entertainers he lured to and kept at NBC were Michael Landon, James Garner and Dean Martin.

When Jack Paar was about to leave “The Tonight Show” in 1962, Tebet happened to be watching daytime television.

“On ABC, I saw a young man with a sidekick,” he told CNN in 1992, “and I didn’t even know the name of the show, and I watched it, and it turns out to be Johnny Carson.”

Impressed, Tebet lobbied hard to bring Carson to NBC, where the subtle comedian made “The Tonight Show” his own for 30 years. Throughout that tenure, Tebet became one of Carson’s closest confidants.

When Carson set up his Johnny Carson Productions and bought “The Tonight Show,” Tebet resigned from NBC and became executive vice president of the new company.

An unabashed booster, Tebet told a United Press International newsman in 1987, after Carson had negotiated his extraordinary contract to be the host of “The Tonight Show” only three nights a week: “He’s indispensable, I would say. Absolutely indispensable.... In those first years alone he generated maybe 15 or 16% of NBC’s profit. And I’m not just talking NBC network. I’m talking the entire company.”

Born Dec. 27, 1913, in Atlanta, Tebet grew up in Philadelphia, where he began his entertainment career as a theater usher. After studying journalism at Temple University, he began doing publicity for plays and soon moved to New York to publicize Broadway shows.

His entree to television came through a client, Max Liebman Productions, which produced Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.”

After moving to Los Angeles with “The Tonight Show,” Tebet moved into the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he lived for more than 15 years.

Tebet was a governor-for-life of the New York Friars Club, where he organized many annual dinners honoring such celebrities as Carson, Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant.

In 2001, the club established the David Tebet Award for outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry.

He was married to actress Nanette Fabray from 1947 until their divorce four years later. In addition to Greenspan, he is survived by another nephew and a niece.

Services are pending. Memorial donations can be made to the Neurosciences Research Foundation, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121.