John David Carson

John David Carson (born John Franklin Carson; March 6, 1952 – October 27, 2009) was an American actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California.

Carson began his career at a young age, acting in television advertisements, and later doing cartoon voice-acting for Hanna-Barbera. His first job was the voice of “Dino Boy/Todd” in 18 episodes of “Space Ghost” from 1966-1968, billed as Johnny Carson. He attended Los Angeles Valley College where he played a lead role in its 1969 production of The Taming Of The Shrew. Upon beginning his Hollywood career he was immediately engaged in a dispute with Johnny Carson over the use of their shared name – he subsequently went by the name John David Carson.

Carson’s first feature film was Pretty Maids All in a Row in 1971. Carson portrayed “Ponce de Leon Harper”, a nerdy and sexually inexperienced young man who is tormented with lust at the pretty young women around him at school and suffers from chronic priapism. Ponce is eventually “mentored” by his guidance counselor, played by Rock Hudson, an expert at seducing younger women, who takes him under his wing and persuades an attractive female teacher (played by Angie Dickinson) to sleep with him.[2] Another notable role was in the 1976 film Stay Hungry, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeff Bridges and Sally Field. Carson also appeared in a great deal of television productions, including Hawaii Five-O and Charlie’s Angels. He portrayed “Jay Spence” on Falcon Crest, a prime-time soap opera.