News People (anchors and reporters) on movies and tv

[tlyle]

In a recent blog about MASH, someone mentioned that several news anchors had been in movies and TV productions. Which ones are you familiar with?

Burt Reynold's "Sharky's Machine" was filmed in Atlanta and had several Atlanta TV anchors at that time in the movie. Forest Sawyer (former NBC anchor) was one of them. He was at WAGA TV 5 at that time. Former CNN anchor Dave Michaels was another. He worked at WXIA TV (11 Alive) at the time.

 

[bk77]

Some of my friends who live in Buffalo told me that WKBW-TV's Susan Banks was featured in the Jim Carrey flick Bruce Almighty, then again so was WKBW. And had Jim Carrey not been such a big fan of WKBW-TV and WKBW radio ( he grew up not far from Buffalo ) Susan Banks wouldn't have been in that movie as the movie people almost signed up WGRZ instead.

In the movie Evan Almighty, Charlottesville, Virginia's WVIR NBC 29 was in that movie but I don't know if any of their real anchors were in the movie though.

Lou Scally, weatherman for Hagerstown, MD's WHAG NBC 25 was in the Patsy Cline bio flick "Sweet Dreams".

Popular Baltimore anchorwoman Sally Thorner was in the 1984 Goldie Hawn flick Protocol. At the time she was with WMAR-TV and WMAR was featured as well. Oddly as I recall WMAR was billed as a WASHINGTON station in that movie and not Baltimore. I always thought that was weird. Be kinda like making a movie in Philadelphia and having New York's WABC-TV being passed off as a local Philadelphia TV station.

Denver's Bob Palmer was in the 1972 flick Visions of Death ( I brought up that flick earlier ).

Going way back, I believe there was a Three Stooges movie from the early 60s whose name escapes me that featured a number of local TV people in the movie, mainly hosts from local kid shows but I believe some of them also did news at the time as well since back then many of them did,as we say double duties.

 

[LKellerIII]

When movies go on location and need an "anchor-person," I think they probably call the local stations..I imagine the local anchors jump at the chance to be in a movie. The SF Bay Area anchors I've seen in movies are usually the ones filmed in San Francisco.

I'm repeating myself from that MASH, thread, but Clete Roberts was an LA anchor who liked to appear in movies and TV. He was probably chosen for those MASH episodes because he was an older guy, and had a crusty veteran reporter look, and wasn't one of those blow-dried young anchor studs that were so popular in the 70s.

I seem to remember Jerry Dunphy appearing as himself in those days as well.

 

[NeilRattigan]

Hey bk77, I remember the Three Stooges movie, "The Outlaws Is Coming." Philadelphia's Sally Starr was in it. So was Pittsburgh children's tv host Paul Shannon. Both of them played a major role in the Stooges' comeback on tv.

And for that, I am enternally grateful, nuyk, nyuk, nyuk!

 

[Corky Marlowe]

He wasn't an anchor, but The Real Don Steele played a TV reporter in "Death Race 2000" (I think) and "Rock N' Roll High School".

 

[Stanislav]

Going way back, I believe there was a Three Stooges movie from the early 60s whose name escapes me that featured a number of local TV people in the movie, mainly hosts from local kid shows but I believe some of them also did news at the time as well since back then many of them did,as we say double duties.

That would be "The Outlaws IS Coming" (1965), the last feature the Stooges filmed. All the "bad guys" were played by local TV show hosts (such as Sally Starr from Philly and Joe Bolton from New York's WPIX) who showed the old Stooges shorts. It was a publicity stunt, and sort of a way for the boys to say "thank you" to these men and women who help resurrect the Stooges' careers after theaters stopped showing short films. The movie also stars Adam West as the good guy and Nancy Kovack as Annie Oakley. (Also watch for a pre-"Laugh-In" Henry Gibson as the Indian "Charlie Horse.")

Here's a list of the hosts and the parts they played. Someone with more time on their hands than I do at the moment could point out which stations they worked for, and whether they indeed did "double duty" as newscasters:

* Joe Bolton: Rob Dalton
* Bill Camfield: Wyatt Earp
* Hal Fryar: Johnny Ringo
* Johnny Ginger: Billy the Kid
* Wayne Mack: Jesse James
* Ed T. McDonnell: Bat Masterson
* Bruce Sedley: Cole Younger
* Paul Shannon: Wild Bill Hickok
* Sally Starr: Belle Starr

 

[Ultimajock]

I'm repeating myself from that MASH, thread, but Clete Roberts was an LA anchor who liked to appear in movies and TV. He was probably chosen for those MASH episodes because he was an older guy, and had a crusty veteran reporter look, and wasn't one of those blow-dried young anchor studs that were so popular in the 70s.

...plus, Clete Roberts was on KNXT, the CBS-owned station in Los Angeles...

 

[Ultimajock]

He wasn't an anchor, but The Real Don Steele played a TV reporter in "Death Race 2000" (I think) and "Rock N' Roll High School".

...oh, how I would LOVE to have seen The Real Don Steele anchor a TV newscast ;D ...

 

[Ultimajock]

...in the controversial British independent picture DEATH OF A PRESIDENT, one of the anchorpeople seen announcing a fictional assassination of GWB is Walter Jacobson, formerly of WBBM-TV/2 (CBS) and WFLD/32 (Fox). Jacobson had been between gigs at the time of filming...

...and it was interesting to have flipped channels one early '80s night and come across ex-ABC and CBS anchor Howard K. Smith opening an episode of NBC's science fiction series "V"...which reminds me, Smith also appears (alongside John Chancellor and Walter Cronkite) at the opening of the movie NETWORK; Cronkite's daughter Kathy played (I think) a terrorist in the supporting cast...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Just thought of maybe the best appearance by a TV anchor in a recent movie...Bill Kurtis (another former Chicago newscaster) as the unseen narrator in "Anchorman".

 

[LKellerIII]

"...oh, how I would LOVE to have seen The Real Don Steele anchor a TV newscast ..."

He did "anchor" The Real Don Steele's Show Biz News Stuff...the gossip segment of his 70s dance party TV show...along with a big mallet, a gong, and various other sound effects. Does that count?

Actually, more than a few news anchors have started as DJs - Charlie O'Donnell is one that comes to mind. Also Dave McElhatton and Van Amburg in the SF Bay Area...both long retired.

But that's a whole other thread, I guess...

 

[rickradio]

From Ultimajock:

...oh, how I would LOVE to have seen The Real Don Steele anchor a TV newscast

Yeah, that would've been a sight to behold, except that Real Don had no interest in doing straight, serious news of any sort, radio or TV.

Also, Darwin Gillette, a staff announcer for KBHK-TV 44 in San Francisco, was a news anchor in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movie "The Dead Pool." TV station scenes filmed at KGO-TV.

I just remembered: Kaity Tong, formerly at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, had moved on to an NYC TV station (don't remember which one) and made an appearance as a reporter in the Robin Williams movie "Moscow On The Hudson," reporting Williams' character defecting in Bloomingdale's.

 

[Mario500]

WALA weather reporter John Edd Thompson appeared in two movies filmed in Mobile. He was an extra in the final scenes of the 1977 movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and as a news anchor for WALA in the 1990 movie “Soultaker” (featured in an episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”).

He also appeared in a 1991 episode of the TV series “In the Heat of the Night”, as a guard in a 1991 episode of “L. A. Law” and the 1993 movie “Bloodlines: Murder in the Family”. Last in his movie roles was a reporter in the 1996 TV movie “Felony”.

WKRG weather reporter John Nodar and former reporter Kathy Times appeared in the 1994 movie “Raw Justice” covering news. The latter also appeared in “Felony” as a reporter.

 

[kirkiefan]

Chet Huntley (later of NBC's "Huntley-Brinkley Report) had a cameo as Dizzy Dean's fellow sportscaster in the 1952 film "The Pride of St. Louis."

Huntley at the time was also doing radio work before he and Brinkley replaced John Cameron Swayze on his "News Caravan."

 

[wbhist]

I just remembered: Kaity Tong, formerly at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, had moved on to an NYC TV station (don't remember which one) and made an appearance as a reporter in the Robin Williams movie "Moscow On The Hudson," reporting Williams' character defecting in Bloomingdale's.

At the time of that movie, she had been with WABC-TV in New York, co-anchoring Eyewitness News up to her firing in 1991. Since then, she's been co-anchor of the News at Ten on WPIX.

 

[dadetim]

jim harriott, who was the anchorman for KOMO seattle was in the movie "wargames"

dan lewis, margo meyers, and steve pool (from KOMO) was in "life, or something like it"

 

[Ultimajock]

I just remembered: Kaity Tong, formerly at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, had moved on to an NYC TV station (don't remember which one) and made an appearance as a reporter in the Robin Williams movie "Moscow On The Hudson," reporting Williams' character defecting in Bloomingdale's.

At the time of that movie, she had been with WABC-TV in New York, co-anchoring Eyewitness News up to her firing in 1991. Since then, she's been co-anchor of the News at Ten on WPIX.

...well, now that we've mentioned Kaity, how about her one-time co-anchor at WABC-TV, Tom Snyder? He's in the documentaries OFF THE MENU: THE LAST DAYS OF CHASEN'S and DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH, and he can be heard in the background over TV sets in JACKIE BROWN and LUNCH WAGON...

 

[nmoore6676]

My memory has gone south but wasn't there some kind of flap a few years ago with CNN, I think it was?

Anyway what I recall was that a network got upset about one of their anchors appearing in a film so they issued an edict that no one on that network could be in a movie in the part of a news person. Going back though I remember in old movies that they often used the famous radio newscasters, of the day, as radio newscasters. In fact in the science fiction classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" they used H.V. Kaltenborn, Gabriel Heatter, and Drew Pearson.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Didn't John Facenda (NFL Films) have a few movie gigs while he was still a local anchor in Philadelphia?

 

[tlyle]

My memory has gone south but wasn't there some kind of flap a few years ago with CNN, I think it was?

Anyway what I recall was that a network got upset about one of their anchors appearing in a film so they issued an edict that no one on that network could be in a movie in the part of a news person. Going back though I remember in old movies that they often used the famous radio newscasters, of the day, as radio newscasters. In fact in the science fiction classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" they used H.V. Kaltenborn, Gabriel Heatter, and Drew Pearson.

Wasn't the late John Holliman working for CNN when he filmed his scenes in the movie "Contact"? I believe he was the primary science anchor at that time.