David Letterman's mother Dorothy Mengering dies

  • 12/04/2017
David Letterman's mother Dorothy Mengering dies
Dorothy Mengering, Paul Shaffer and David Letterman (CBS)

The mother of US broadcaster David Letterman has died aged 95.

Dorothy Mengering was a well-loved and frequent guest on her son's late night TV shows, appearing in telephone segments called 'Dave's Mom' before making her first on-screen appearance in February 1986.

She went on to feature on the Late Show with David Letterman as a commentator for the Winter Olympics in 1994, 1998 and 2002 where she interviewed then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and ice skater Nancy Kerrigan, among others.

Current Late Show host Stephen Colbert took to Twitter to pay tribute to his predecessor's mum.

Mengering published a recipe book in 1996 called Home Cookin' With Dave's Mom.

In it were recipes such as Dave's Fried Baloney Sandwich, Jan's Sauerkraut Balls and Gretchen's Salad Dressing - tributes to her son and two daughters - along with a number of dessert pie recipes.

The sad news for Letterman comes as he's making headlines for opening up about his battle with depression.

Following being blackmailed for US$2 million over an affair, the funnyman went to a very dark place mentally, a new biography reveals.

"I'm in hell. I will always be in hell until the day after, when I will go to hell," he reportedly told a Late Show writer just before going public with the news in 2009.

Letterman's wife Regina stuck by him during the tough time, while CBS producer Robert Halderman was charged over the attempted extortion.

Newshub.