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Gregory Peck, David Brinkley Die
Aired June 12, 2003 - 15:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A leading man, like no other has died. Gregory Peck died at his Los Angeles home last night. His leading lady, wife Veronique (ph), was at his side. Peck kept audiences spellbound in classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird," for which he won an Academy Award, and "Gentlemen's Agreement."
His spokesman said he hadn't really been ill. He just died of old age. Gregory Peck was 87.
And what Peck was to acting, David Brinkley was to broadcast news. The keen-eyed sharp-tongued anchoring commentator was must-see TV decades before the terms "live shot" or "focus group" even existed. He was a mainstay of two networks over two generations. And by his own estimation, covered 11 presidents, four wars and 22 political conventions. Brinkley died last night at 82.
And joining me to talk about his inspiring career is a former NBC colleague, now chair of the broadcast journalism department at Northwestern University, Joe Angotti. Good afternoon to you, Joe. Thanks so much for being here.
JOE ANGOTTI, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Tell us how you came to know David Brinkley.
ANGOTTI: I was the executive producer of the NBC nightly news from 1977 to 1980, when David was co-anchoring the program with John Chancellor. Who had just completed covering the political year together, 1976 conventions and election night. And David and John were paired up to do the NBC nightly news in '77.
COLLINS: What was it that you will remember most about David Brinkley? You know, when we sit at home and watch television anchors throughout time, we see one thing. Behind the scenes we sometimes see another thing. What would that be for you with David Brinkley?
ANGOTTI: I think without question it would be his writing. David Brinkley revolutionized the way that people wrote for television news. Until David came along, the writers for television news were primarily newspaper people who had worked on newspapers, came over to television, and wrote the same way that they would write for a newspaper.
David believed that people ought to write for television the way they speak. And all this sounds very elementary now to you and I, but at the time it was very revolutionary. And he had this staccato delivery that was very unique, and the way he spoke, he then translated that into the way he wrote.
And it started mimics all over the country. I mean, during the 1960s and '70s, there were newscasters all over the country who were imitating the David Brinkley staccato style.
COLLINS: It really is a pretty amazing thing, because I remember in journalism school myself you would take that newspaper article and you would rewrite it to make it, "more conversational." This is exactly what you're talking about.
ANGOTTI: Right. And David really did pioneer that. Something that sounds so totally ordinary and makes so much sense right now, it wasn't that way back in his time.
COLLINS: Tell us about some of the stories that you might have. I think one in particular that really comes to mind that I've been reading here is about a certain prisoner?
ANGOTTI: There was an inmate at a penitentiary, I think it was in Pennsylvania. He was an honor inmate, a trustee, as they call them, and his job every day was to walk the warden's dogs. And he did this for about a year.
He walked the dogs and was gone for about an hour and would come back. Well, one day, Buster -- his name was Buster -- Buster walked off with the dogs and never came back and was missing. And as far as I know, he's still gone today.
But David wrote that story as only he could write it and used it as a closer on the newscast. And the mail and response that we got was incredible because everyone wanted to know, please let us know what happened to Buster, because they were all pulling for Buster. And so David, every couple of months, he would ask a producer or researcher to call the penitentiary and find out what was the latest.
Did they find Buster? Did they find the dogs? And each time the answer was no, they hadn't.
COLLINS: I kind of want to know what happened to the warden. All right. Joe Angotti, thanks so much for sharing your memories of David Brinkley, certainly a person that will be missed indeed.
ANGOTTI: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Thank you once again.
ANGOTTI: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 12, 2003 - 15:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A leading man, like no other has died. Gregory Peck died at his Los Angeles home last night. His leading lady, wife Veronique (ph), was at his side. Peck kept audiences spellbound in classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird," for which he won an Academy Award, and "Gentlemen's Agreement."
His spokesman said he hadn't really been ill. He just died of old age. Gregory Peck was 87.
And what Peck was to acting, David Brinkley was to broadcast news. The keen-eyed sharp-tongued anchoring commentator was must-see TV decades before the terms "live shot" or "focus group" even existed. He was a mainstay of two networks over two generations. And by his own estimation, covered 11 presidents, four wars and 22 political conventions. Brinkley died last night at 82.
And joining me to talk about his inspiring career is a former NBC colleague, now chair of the broadcast journalism department at Northwestern University, Joe Angotti. Good afternoon to you, Joe. Thanks so much for being here.
JOE ANGOTTI, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Tell us how you came to know David Brinkley.
ANGOTTI: I was the executive producer of the NBC nightly news from 1977 to 1980, when David was co-anchoring the program with John Chancellor. Who had just completed covering the political year together, 1976 conventions and election night. And David and John were paired up to do the NBC nightly news in '77.
COLLINS: What was it that you will remember most about David Brinkley? You know, when we sit at home and watch television anchors throughout time, we see one thing. Behind the scenes we sometimes see another thing. What would that be for you with David Brinkley?
ANGOTTI: I think without question it would be his writing. David Brinkley revolutionized the way that people wrote for television news. Until David came along, the writers for television news were primarily newspaper people who had worked on newspapers, came over to television, and wrote the same way that they would write for a newspaper.
David believed that people ought to write for television the way they speak. And all this sounds very elementary now to you and I, but at the time it was very revolutionary. And he had this staccato delivery that was very unique, and the way he spoke, he then translated that into the way he wrote.
And it started mimics all over the country. I mean, during the 1960s and '70s, there were newscasters all over the country who were imitating the David Brinkley staccato style.
COLLINS: It really is a pretty amazing thing, because I remember in journalism school myself you would take that newspaper article and you would rewrite it to make it, "more conversational." This is exactly what you're talking about.
ANGOTTI: Right. And David really did pioneer that. Something that sounds so totally ordinary and makes so much sense right now, it wasn't that way back in his time.
COLLINS: Tell us about some of the stories that you might have. I think one in particular that really comes to mind that I've been reading here is about a certain prisoner?
ANGOTTI: There was an inmate at a penitentiary, I think it was in Pennsylvania. He was an honor inmate, a trustee, as they call them, and his job every day was to walk the warden's dogs. And he did this for about a year.
He walked the dogs and was gone for about an hour and would come back. Well, one day, Buster -- his name was Buster -- Buster walked off with the dogs and never came back and was missing. And as far as I know, he's still gone today.
But David wrote that story as only he could write it and used it as a closer on the newscast. And the mail and response that we got was incredible because everyone wanted to know, please let us know what happened to Buster, because they were all pulling for Buster. And so David, every couple of months, he would ask a producer or researcher to call the penitentiary and find out what was the latest.
Did they find Buster? Did they find the dogs? And each time the answer was no, they hadn't.
COLLINS: I kind of want to know what happened to the warden. All right. Joe Angotti, thanks so much for sharing your memories of David Brinkley, certainly a person that will be missed indeed.
ANGOTTI: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Thank you once again.
ANGOTTI: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
