Gloria Fallon, mother of late-night host Jimmy Fallon, has died at age 68.
“Jimmy Fallon’s mother, Gloria, died peacefully on Saturday,” said a Fallon family spokesperson in a public statement.
“Jimmy was at his mother’s bedside, along with her loved ones, when she passed away at NYU Langone Medical Center in NYC. Our prayers go out to Jimmy and his family as they go through this tough time,” the statement continued.
On November 3, Variety announced that NBC would cancel the Friday taping of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon due to a private family issue. The cancellation was believed to be due to Jimmy’s mother’s illness. The network Instead chose to re-air a September taping.
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Nevermind her son’s status as a famous nightly host, many of Jimmy’s avid viewers became familiar with his mother Gloria during his time hosting the show. On more than one occasion he spoke about his mom, and she even influenced his late-night material.
“My mom and I were talking on the phone for the third time that day and she actually said, ‘We don’t talk enough,’” he tweeted this past May.
Jimmy hashtagged the post #MomQuotes and thus a memorable Tonight Show segment was born. In celebration of the forthcoming Mother’s Day, the host read the hilarious replies from fans who shared their own relatable "mom quotes."
In a 2011 interview with Terry Gross for NPR, Fallon spoke candidly about his childhood. He noted how his parents would tape Saturday Night Live on television and would edit out “any sketches that were risqué.” In a 2000 interview with Spin magazine, Fallon also noted that his mother was pretty comfortable with her son’s colorful imagination.
“I was one of those kids who, if I hung around another kid for an hour, I was that kid,” Fallon told Spin as noted by Us Weekly. “It was weird. I’d come home and I’d do his type of humor, his type of mannerisms. And my mom would say, ‘Okay, Joey, you want dinner now?’ ‘Cause I’d be acting like Joey Gonzalez.”
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