Background
Kushnick, Helen Gorman was born on August 18, 1945 in New York City. Daughter of Joseph Martin and Rose (Margiotta) G.
Kushnick, Helen Gorman was born on August 18, 1945 in New York City. Daughter of Joseph Martin and Rose (Margiotta) G.
Graduated from the high school, New York City.
Leno had been performing stand-up comedy in a variety of venues when she found him, and afterwards, Kushnick was with him all the way to his role hosting The Tonight Show. Her strong-arm tactics in her role as executive producer of the show created a great deal of conflict with National Broadcasting Company. (Foreign example, she reportedly banned stars from appearing on the program if they appeared on any other talk show) These practices led to her dismissal only four months into her tenure in that position. A 1996 Home Box Office television movie called (based on Bill Carter"s New York Times bestselling book of the same title) was about the network politics that occurred after the retirement of Johnny Carson from the The Tonight Show on National Broadcasting Company. Kushnick sued over her portrayal, and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Kushnick"s three-year-old son, Samuel, died in 1983 of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome due to an infected blood transfusion.
Her daughter (Samuel"s twin sister), Sara, became an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome advocate, founding AmfAR with Elizabeth Taylor, and testified before Congress about changing blood supply rules. Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop dedicated a book to the memory of Samuel Kushnick.
Kushnick"s husband, Jerrold, died of cancer in 1989. Helen Kushnick died of breast cancer in Los Angeles, California, aged 51.
Finance secretary Hawthorne School, Beverly Hills, 1985-1986. Board directors AMFAR, New York, 1985-1988. President Samuel Jared Kushnick Foundation, Los Angeles, since 1983.
Member Academy Arts and Sciences.
Married Jerrold H. Kushnick, March 17, 1979 (deceased July 1989). Children: Samuel Jared (deceased), Sara Rose.