Television Personality/Newscaster. Brinkley was born on July 18, 1920, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a main fixture on television for over 50 years including on NBC and ABC, beginning his career as a broadcaster in the 1940s. Appearing as a co-anchor with Chet Huntley on the news program, “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” from 1956 to 1970, and “This Week With David Brinkley” from 1982 until he retired in 1997. In 1992 he won the George Foster Peabody Award for his report on the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, during World War II. He also appeared as a narrator on the 1961 film, “The Challenge of Ideas” and as himself in an episode of, “The Jack Benny Program” on September 25, 1964. He was well-known to television audiences as a news analyst for his terse, biting comments and dry wit. He was also the recipient of two more George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 Emmy Awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. In 1995 he wrote his memoirs, “11 Presidents, 4 Wars, 22 Political Conventions, 1 Moon Landing, 3 Assassinations, 2,000 Weeks Of News, and Other Stuff On Television.” He retired from broadcasting in 1997. He died June 11, 2003, at the age of 82, after a fall at his home in Houston, Texas.
Personal Quotes
“Most of my life I’ve simply been a reporter covering things, and writing and talking about it.” (1992)
“The only way to do news on television is not to be terrified of it. Most of the news isn’t very important. In fact, very little of it is.”
“I wish to say that we all look forward with great pleasure to four years of wonderful, inspiring speeches, full of wit, poetry, music, love, and affection. Plus more goddamned nonsense.”
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”