Raymond Siller
Encyclopedia
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. He has written for four U.S. presidents and contributed articles to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. He lives in New York City.
Early
Siller was born and raised in the Bay Ridge section of BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York. He attended Brooklyn Prep and Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, wrote for the student newspaper, The Fordham Ram, and was a chief announcer on Fordham’s FM station, WFUV
WFUV
WFUV, 90.7 FM in New York City, is Fordham University's 50,000-watt, non-commercial radio station, with studios on campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. First broadcast in 1947, WFUV has an airstaff which includes such New York radio veterans as Pete Fornatale , Dennis...
. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960.
Career
His professional career began in New York as an ABC Television Network page, and he was later employed as a radio director at ABC’s flagship rock station, WABCWABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
. He subsequently gained a staff director position at the ABC Radio Network, working with Charles Osgood, Ted Koppel, Peter Jennings, and Howard Cosell.
Siller moved over to ABC-TV in 1968 as an associate director on The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
where he transitioned to Cavett’s writing staff.
During the 1970 congressional elections, President Richard M. Nixon invited Siller to be a consultant at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. He assumed that post and at the same time consulted for Vice President Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
. On the wedding day of Nixon’s daughter, Tricia, attended by both Agnew and comedian Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Agnew appeared in Los Angeles at an Army Ball honoring Hope. In his introduction to Hope, Agnew peppered his speech with many of Siller’s one-liners. They included jokes about the wedding. Hope, following Agnew on the dais, had to cross out from his own monologue the topical references that Agnew had just delivered. Hope asked his nephew, Peter Malatesta, at the time Agnew’s aide, “Who the hell wrote those jokes?” When Malatesta informed him it was Ray Siller, Hope said, “Tell him he’s hired”.
The following year, Siller relocated to California to begin a three year stint at NBC Burbank on Hope’s writing staff for The Bob Hope Specials. In 1972, he accompanied Hope on his final Christmas tour to Vietnam.
In 1974, Siller left Hope to write for another NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
program, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. He remained with Carson for fifteen years, the last twelve of those as Carson’s head writer.
Siller has consulted for four Presidents: Richard M Nixon,Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. This included writing Gridiron, Alfalfa Club, Radio-TV Correspondents, White House Correspondents, and Al Smith
Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928...
dinners. He contributed material for campaigns and televised debates. He’s written for Vice President Agnew, 1996 Presidential nominee, Senator Bob Dole, and California Governor George Deukmejian. He consulted for New York Governor, and later Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
.
Television credits
The Dick Cavett ShowThe Bob Hope Specials
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Laverne and Shirley
Welcome Back, Kotter
Emmy nominations
1980-81: Head Writer, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program)1985-86: Head Writer, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program)
1987: Head Writer, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program)
1988: Head Writer, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program)
Honors
1977-78: Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honors Ray Siller, Head Writer, for contributions to the Emmy Award-winning program, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Special Classification of Outstanding Program Achievement.1972: The Department of Defense Certificate of Esteem for Patriotic Service in providing Entertainment to Members of the Armed Forces in the Pacific.
1972: Eighth Air Force Certificate of Appreciation In Special Recognition for the Outstanding Contribution to the Morale and Holiday Spirit of Military Personnel at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam as a Member of The 1972 Bob Hope Christmas Show.
1968-1969 The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Honors Raymond Siller for contributions to the Television Academy Award-winning program "The Dick Cavett Show"
Chosen for Outstanding Achievement In Daytime Programming.