Morley Safer
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| Morley Safer | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 8, 1931 Toronto, Ontario |
| Occupation | News reporter |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Spouse | Jane Fearer |
Morley Safer (born November 8, 1931) is a Canadian reporter and correspondent for CBS News. He is best known for his long tenure on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, which began in December 1970.
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[edit] Biography
Safer was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna (née Cohn) and Max Safer, an upholsterer.[1] He attended Harbord Collegiate Institute,[2] and briefly attended University of Western Ontario.[citation needed]
Safer began his journalism career as a reporter for various newspapers in Canada and England. Later, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a correspondent and producer.
In 1964, Safer joined CBS News as a London-based correspondent. In 1965, he opened the CBS News bureau in Saigon. That year he followed a group of United States Marines to the village of Cam Ne, for what was described as a "search and destroy" mission. When the Marines arrived, they gave orders in English to the inhabitants—by all accounts harmless civilians—to evacuate the village. When the homes were cleared, the Marines burned their thatched roofs with flamethrowers and Zippo lighters. Safer's report on this event was broadcast on CBS News on August 5, 1965, and was among the first reports to paint a bleak picture of the Vietnam War. President Lyndon Baines Johnson reacted to this report angrily, calling CBS's president and accusing Safer and his colleagues of having "shat on the American flag." Certain that Safer was a communist, Johnson also ordered a security check; upon being told that Safer "wasn't a communist, just a Canadian," he responded "Well, I knew he wasn't an American."[3]
In 1967, Safer was named the London bureau chief, a post he held for three years. In 1970, he left London to replace Harry Reasoner on 60 Minutes, after Reasoner left to anchor the ABC Evening News (although Reasoner would return to 60 Minutes in 1978, alongside Safer). Safer has been on the program since that time.
Safer is also the author of the bestselling book, Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam.
He and his wife, the former Jane Fearer, live in New York City. They have a daughter, Sarah, who is a graduate of Brown University.[4]
Safer is referenced in The Golden Girls episodes "Long Day's Journey Into Marinara" (1987),"The Actor" and EPISODE 118 • “An Illegitimate Concern”.
[edit] Popular culture references
- The 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "The Baby Menace" (season five, episode one) a reporter working for a sleazy tabloid is likened to "Morley freakin' Safer" by Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
- The Golden Girls episode "An Illegitimate Concern" (season five, episode eighteen); Upon learning her dead husband, George, fathered an illegitimate son, played by Mark Moses of Desperate Housewives fame, during the course of their marriage, Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) decries this turn of events claiming she once passed up an affair with a noted journalist of 60 Minutes fame to uphold her vows. As she exits the room, Sophia says to Rose and Dorothy, "I'll bet it was Morley Safer." At the end of the episode, while talking to a picture of George, Blanche says, "You son of a... You put me through all of this and I could have had Andy Rooney."
[edit] Awards
- 12-time Emmy Award winner
- 3-time Overseas Press Award winner
- 3-time George Foster Peabody Award winner
- 2-time Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award winner
- Winner of the Paul White Award from the Radio/Television News Directors Association (RTNDA)
- Recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
- Received the 2003 George Polk Memorial Career Achievement Award from Long Island University.
- Received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards’ first prize for domestic television for his insightful report about a controversial school, “School for the Homeless”
- Named a Chévalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1995
- Received Brown University's Welles Hangen Award for Superior Achievement in Journalism (1993)
- Recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/Morley-Safer.html
- ^ Sweethearts, The Builders, The Mob and the Men, page 6 - author Catherine Wismer (ISBN 0888623844)
- ^ Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2005, Pacifica Radio/UC Berkeley Social Activism Sound Recording Project: Anti-Vietnam War Protests in the San Francisco Bay Area & Beyond
- ^ Brown University, 1992, Morley Safer of CBS to receive University’s first Welles Hangen Award
[edit] External links
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