- Documentary About Trusted Anchorman and Broadcast Legend Features Interviews With Ben Bradlee, Tom Brokaw, David Frost, David Halberstam, Molly Ivins, Sydney Lumet, Sen. John McCain, Robert MacNeil, Bill Moyers, Andy Rooney, Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Helen Thomas and Barbara Walters - He hit the sands at Normandy and covered the trials at Nuremburg. He shed tears over JFK's assassination, took us to the moon, deemed Vietnam a stalemate and - steadfastly adhering to his credo of fast, accurate and unbiased news reporting - became the most trusted figure in American public life. In this AMERICAN MASTERS production, the still unfolding story of Walter Cronkite emerges against the backdrop of world history and television news. "Walter Cronkite: Witness to History" airs on PBS Wednesday, July 26, 2006, check local listings. The film is written, directed and produced by Emmy Award-winner Catherine Tatge. And that's the way it is. "Everyone knows Walter Cronkite from the CBS Evening News, which he anchored for 19 years. Invited nightly into our living rooms, he guided us through some of the most incredible, and the most horrific, news events of our time," said Susan Lacy, creator and executive producer of AMERICAN MASTERS, a five-time winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction Series and a recent recipient of a seventh Peabody Award. "This film, like Mr. Cronkite's rich and varied life, goes well beyond the anchor years to offer a complete picture of a genuine Renaissance man - author, sailor, producer, patron." Witness to the most significant turning points of the 20th century, Cronkite speaks at length about his life and career, the past and the future. An avid sailor, he is filmed sailing in the Tortolas on his 60-foot yacht, Wyntje. Cronkite recorded his sailing experiences in his books South by Southeast, North by Northeast, Westwind and Around America, published in 2001. The film goes well beyond biography, telling the story of television news from its infancy through the explosion of cable TV. "Walter Cronkite was the man from print who ushered the nation into the age of television," says director Tatge. "When television arrived in your home - so did Cronkite. He brought us the most important news of our lives. During troubled times, he gave it to us straight. Yet he also shaped it. Throughout, he was both responsible and courageous." During nearly 70 years in journalism, Walter Cronkite covered virtually every conceivable news event. He became a special correspondent for CBS News when he stepped down as anchorman and managing editor on March 6, 1981. Affectionately nicknamed "Old Iron Pants" for his unflappability under pressure, Cronkite's accomplishments - both on-air and off - have won him acclaim and trust from journalism colleagues and the American public alike. Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on November 4, 1916, Cronkite began his career in journalism as a campus correspondent at the Houston Post during high school and his freshman year at college. He also worked as a sports announcer for a local radio station in Oklahoma City and in 1937 joined the United Press, where he remained for 11 years. Cronkite covered World War II as a UP correspondent. Later, he reported on the Nuremberg Trials and then from Moscow, where from 1946-48 he served as UP bureau chief. His solid foundation in print journalism prepared him to assume a central role in the nascent medium of television news. In July 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in Washington as a correspondent and was anchorman for their political convention and election coverage from 1952 to 1980. He covered such history-making events as the U.S. space program; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy; the Watergate scandal; the hostage crisis in Iran; the Vietnam War; and, recently, John Glenn's return to space. After leaving the CBS Evening News, Cronkite hosted several acclaimed CBS documentary programs. His numerous honors and awards include a special George Foster Peabody Award for his contributions to broadcast journalism and induction into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. In January 1981, President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. In a nationwide viewer opinion survey conducted as recently as 1995, more than a decade after he left the CBS anchor desk, Cronkite again was voted "Most Trusted Man in Television News." In 1993, he co-founded the Cronkite Ward Company, which has produced more than 100 award-winning documentary hours for the Discovery Channel, PBS and other networks. In 1996, he completed his autobiography, A Reporter's Life. In addition to his ongoing assignments as a special correspondent for CBS, Cronkite maintains an international lecture and public appearance schedule and also hosts public affairs and cultural programs. AMERICAN MASTERS has won 16 Emmys, including Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction Series for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004, in addition to seven Peabodys, an Oscar and two Grammys. The AMERICAN MASTERS film library is one of the most highly honored in television history, with profiles of more than 140 artistic giants.
|
