George Carlin dies of heart problem

George Carlin, America’s most endearing stand-up comedian whose long career was distinguished by sharp social satire, died on Sunday of heart failure in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71.

Carlin had a history of heart trouble that dated back to the 1970s and had long struggled with health problems. He complained of chest pain on Sunday afternoon and was immediately taken to the St. John's Health Center, where he died at 5:55 p.m. PDT.

Born on May 12, 1937 in Manhattan, the comedian always said that his often-cynical satire simply echoed his real-life scorn for mankind's greed, stupidity and inconsideration. He habitually took on contemporary political issues in the United States and attacked the flaws around him.

Carlin, who was also an author, was chosen only last week by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to receive this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Carlin started appearing in television shows in 1960s, giving a perceptible performance in ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ He was often seen in ‘The tonight Show’ and starred in more than a dozen HBO specials. By the next decade he was being noted for his unpredictable performances. Carlin hosted the first broadcast of ‘Saturday Night Live’ in October 1975 and subsequently appeared on CBS Television's ‘Tony Orlando & Dawn’ variety series.

He was acutely involved in the most-famous broadcast obscenity case of modern times, for his routine ‘Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television,’ which appeared 1972's ‘Class Clown’ album.

When the album was aired on FM radio in 1973, it prompted a landmark case that went to the Supreme Court, where the material was judged indecent but not obscene. Carlin had once summed up his approach, saying, "I think it is the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."

The legal controversy led to the enunciation of a rule calling for a ban on certain material when children are most likely to be in the audience.

"So my name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of," Carlin had said. "In the context of that era, it was daring.”

"It just sounds like a very self-serving kind of word. I don't want to go around describing myself as a 'groundbreaker' or a 'difference-maker' because I'm not and I wasn't," he said. "But I contributed to people who were saying things that weren't supposed to be said."

Carlin received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards, in 2001. Three years later he was ranked second on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-ups of all time list, falling just behind Richard Pryor.

The honored comedian married Brenda Hosbrook in 1961 but she died of liver cancer, a day before Carlin's 60th birthday, in 1997. The two had a daughter named Kelly. He is survived by his second wife.