Bree Walker

Bree Walker (born 1953) is an American television network news anchor (and later, a talk radio host); she has appeared as a news anchor and/or reporter in San Diego, New York City, and Los Angeles.

Walker was born and raised in the state of Minnesota near the Iowa border. She inherited a rare genetic condition called ectrodactyly resulting in her fingers and toes being fused together. She has been married and divorced three times. Her surname is taken from her second husband. She has a daughter with her second husband, and a son with her third ex-husband, Jim Lampley. The son and daughter inherited the condition.

Established and well into her career at the ABC affiliate KGTV Channel 10 in San Diego, Walker decided to go public with her ectrodactyly after previously keeping her deformed hands hidden inside a pair of glove-like prosthetic hands. With her hands now clearly visible, she continued her newscasting career at KGTV, moving up to the larger rock station KPRI FM. She started her television career in 1980 at KGTV as a consumer advocacy reporter. She also dabbled in acting, appearing as herself in the end-of-the-world science-fiction thriller Without Warning (credited as Bree Walker-Lampley but referred to on screen as Bree Walker) and as television reporter Wendy Sorenson in The Chase. Walker also guest-starred on an episode of the PBS children's series, Reading Rainbow, to talk about her disability.

While watching the 2003 season of Carnivàle, an HBO television series about a Depression-era carnival traveling through the Dust Bowl, Walker noticed that no cast member had ectrodactyly. She requested, created, auditioned and won the role of Sabina, The Scorpion Lady.

Walker's portrayal of Sabina appeared in three episodes during the 2005 season. She showcases her webbed hands as the series probes public attitudes toward persons with highly visible disabilities. Walker based Sabina on characters she knew existed in the 1920s and 1930s carnival sideshows with names like Lobster Girl or Lobster Boy. These were typically the best jobs people with ectrodactyly could have, with most others being hidden away.

Walker furthered her acting career in 2006 by appearing as an inspirational woman with ectrodactyly on the fourth season premiere of Nip/Tuck. She and her children were also featured on an episode of TLC's My Unique Family.

Purchase of Camp Casey

In June 2007, it was announced that Walker had purchased Cindy Sheehan's 5-acre (20,000 m²) "Camp Casey" site in Crawford, Texas for $87,000, in response to Sheehan's May 26, 2007 announcement that she would be selling the property and ending her antiwar activities. Walker planned to preserve the property as a peace memorial and garden and keep it open to antiwar protesters..

Sheehan handed the deed to Walker during her June 9, 2007 broadcast of "The Bree Walker show.".

External links

• Bree Walker on IMDB
• Bree Walker official site
• Larry King Live transcript
• Diane Bell, "Of Bree, HBO and ectrodactyly", San Diego Union Tribune newspaper, January 25, 2005
• Ability Magazine interview and biography