Comedian, Actor and TV Host. Carter was one of television's first stars in the late 1940s whose career spanned well into the 21st century. Born Jack Chakrin to Jewish immigrant parents from Russia, they owned a restaurant on Coney Island where he was dancing on the tables entertaining customers by the age of 3. In his teens, he appeared on radio's 'Major Bowes Amateur Hour' doing impressions and was soon performing at nightclubs and theaters around the country. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II (WWII), he returned to the nightclub circuit and by 1947 he was performing on Broadway. On television, he worked on Milton Berle's 'Texaco Star Theatre' before becoming host of 'Cavalcade of Stars'. In the early 1950s, he hosted 'The Jack Carter Show' as part of NBC's Saturday Night Revue. In 1952, he returned to Broadway to play the lead in 'Top Banana' and would go on to appear in the original cast of the musical comedy 'Mr. Wonderful'. In 1956, he hosted the first televised Tony Awards ceremony and was a frequent guest on such variety and comedy programs as 'The Dean Martin Show', 'The Andy Williams Show', 'The Jackie Gleason Show', 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In', numerous Bob Hope specials and would go in to make over 50 appearances on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Emmy-nominated actor appeared as a celebrity panelist on several game shows and could be seen in many TV programs, including 'Dr. Kildare', 'Combat', 'The Rockford Files', 'Diagnosis Murder', 'Caroline in the City' and '3rd Rock from the Sun' He made several appearances in Showtime's 'Shameless, including one as recently as 2014. Among films he appeared in were 'Viva Las Vegas' (1964), 'Hustle' (1975) and 'The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington' (1977). Carter died of respiratory failure.