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Don Hewitt

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Don Hewitt
Hewitt c. 1979
Born
Donald Shepherd Hewitt

(1922-12-14)December 14, 1922
New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 19, 2009(2009-08-19) (aged 86)
Bridgehampton, New York, United States
Alma materNew York University (withdrew for military service)
OccupationTelevision producer
Years active1942–2009
EmployerCBS News (1948–2009)
Known forCreator of 60 Minutes
Spouse(s)
Mary Weaver
​
​
(m. 1945; div. 1963)​
(2 children)
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1974)​
(2 children)
​
(m. 1979)​
Children4
AwardsEdward R. Murrow Award, Emmy, Peabody Award, Producers Guild of America Award, Television Hall of Fame

Donald Shepard Hewitt[1] (December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating the CBS television news magazine 60 Minutes in 1968, which, at the time of his death was the longest-running prime-time broadcast on American television.[2] Under Hewitt's leadership, 60 Minutes was the only news program ever rated as the nation's top-ranked television program, which it accomplished five times.[3] Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.[4]

Early life

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Hewitt was born in New York City, New York, the son of Frieda (née Pike) and Ely S. Hewitt (changed from Hurwitz or Horowitz).[5] His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and his mother's family was of German Jewish descent.[1][5] Hewitt's family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, shortly after his birth, where his father worked as a classified advertising manager for the Boston Herald American. His family later lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from New Rochelle High School, in New Rochelle, New York.

College and early career

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Hewitt attended New York University and started his journalism career in 1942 as head copyboy for the New York Herald Tribune.[1] He joined the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1943 and served as a journalist for Stars and Stripes in London.[6] Hewitt later returned to sea as an ensign in the Naval Reserve.[7] After World War II ended in 1945, Hewitt returned to his job as copyboy for the Tribune, then worked for The Associated Press at a bureau in Memphis, Tennessee. However, his wife Mary Weaver—whom he married while working in Memphis—wanted to go to New York City, so he moved back.[1][4]

Back in New York City, Hewitt started working at the E.W. Scripps Company-owned photo agency ACME Newspictures, which was later merged into co-owned news service United Press.[8][9]

Career at CBS News

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Hewitt soon received a lucrative offer at the CBS television network, which was seeking someone who had "picture experience" to help with production of television broadcast.[4] He began working at its news division, CBS News, in 1948, and was producer-director of the network's evening news broadcast with Douglas Edwards for 14 years.

He was also the first director of See It Now, co-produced by host Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly which started in 1951; his influential use of "two film projectors cutting back and forth breaks up the monotony of a talking head, improves editing, and shapes future news broadcasts."[3] In 1956, Hewitt was the only one to capture on film the final moments of the SS Andrea Doria as it sank and disappeared underwater.[3] He directed the televised production of the 1960 U.S. presidential candidate debate between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice-president Richard M. Nixon, on September 26, 1960, at the CBS studios in Chicago—the first presidential candidate debate ever televised. He later became executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and produced the broadcast of John F. Kennedy's assassination as the story developed.[10]

External videos
video icon "Life and Career of Don Hewitt", April 5, 1994, C-SPAN

In 1985, Friendly, who had become the president of CBS, slyly demoted Hewitt from his executive producer role, without firing him from CBS. During the ensuing period of "boredom", he conceived of the concept for 60 Minutes.[11]

60 Minutes

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In 1968, he launched the eight-time Emmy Award-winning show 60 Minutes as creator and executive producer. Inspired by magazines and cinema, Hewitt was upfront about the mixture of serious and lighthearted news stories, stating that "I unashamedly admit I stole this programme lock, stock and barrel, from Life magazine." [12] Within ten years, the show had reached the top 10 in viewership, a position it maintained for 21 of the following 22 seasons, until the 1999–2000 season.[3]

Hewitt was a primary figure in the televising of a 1996 60 Minutes documentary on the tobacco industry scandal involving the tobacco company Brown & Williamson, in which the program eventually reported the allegations of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand. Initially wary of a lawsuit, Hewitt sided with CBS News management and killed the Wigand story by censoring t he interview.[13] After blowback, a more complete presentation of the story was allowed to air, but the handling of the issue remained "a dark, sorry period in the otherwise virtuous life of 60 Minutes."[14] The scandal was the inspiration for the 1999 film The Insider; Hewitt was portrayed in the film by Philip Baker Hall.[15]

Declining ratings at 60 Minutes—after decades of being in the top 10, the show had dropped in rankings to number 20—contributed to what became a public debate in 2002 about whether it was time for CBS to replace Hewitt at 60 Minutes. According to The New York Times, Jeff Fager, producer of 60 Minutes II, was being floated as a possible replacement,[3] speculation that proved to be accurate. The show was still generating an estimated profit of more than $20 million a year, but the decline in viewership and profit meant the show could no longer "operate as an island unto itself, often thumbing its nose at management while demanding huge salaries and perquisites."[3] Within a couple of years, Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer at the age of 81, signing a 10-year contract with CBS to be an executive producer-at-large for CBS News.[1]

In January 2010, 60 Minutes dedicated a full show to the story and memory of Hewitt.[16]

In 2018, an internal CBS investigation found that in the 1990s Hewitt had been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a former CBS employee over a period of years. The original settlement amount of $450,000 was renegotiated several times;[17] CBS had determined that the employee's allegations were credible and, by 2018, had paid her over $5 million in settlements in exchange for her silence.[18]

Personal life and death

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Hewitt was married three times:

In March 2009, Hewitt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer from which he died on August 19, 2009, at his home in Bridgehampton, New York.[2][20]

Honors

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Works

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External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Hewitt on Tell Me a Story, April 1, 2001, C-SPAN

In 1985, Random House published Minute by Minute, a look at the history of 60 Minutes.[24] In 2001, PublicAffairs published Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television, in which Hewitt chronicles his life as a newsman.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Harris, Kathryn (August 19, 2009). "Don Hewitt, Creator, First Producer of '60 Minutes,' Dies at 86". Bloomberg. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Staff writer (August 19, 2009). "TV News Giant Don Hewitt Dies At 86". CBS News. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Rutenberg, Jim (November 25, 2002). "CBS Wants '60 Minutes' Chief To Hand Over the Stopwatch". The New York Times. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Steinberg, Jacques (August 19, 2009). "Don Hewitt, Creator of 60 Minutes,' Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2009. (Website registration required.)
  5. ^ a b The Tablet Magazine: "Don Hewitt on His Judaism - The '60 Minutes' creator died today at 86. For the book 'Stars of David,' he talked about his religion." By Abigail Pogrebin August 19, 2009
  6. ^ The Don Hewitt Saga. evesmag.com. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  7. ^ Don Hewitt dies at 86; creator of '60 Minutes'. Los Angeles Times. Published August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  8. ^ Photograph Identification Guide from the website of art historian David Rudd Cycleback
  9. ^ "IMeet Central - Organize, Share, Collaborate".
  10. ^ Sixty Minutes, rebroadcast of Memorial to Don Hewitt, 24 January 2010.
  11. ^ "Don Hewitt, The Ringmaster - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. August 21, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  12. ^ "Don Hewitt: Director and producer who created '60 Minutes', CBS's". The Independent. September 2, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  13. ^ Brenner, Marie. "Jeffrey Wigand: The Man Who Knew Too Much". Vanity Fair. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  14. ^ Shales, Tom (October 15, 1999). "The Explosive Film That Ticked Off '60 Minutes'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 16, 2000. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  15. ^ The Insider (Motion picture). Touchstone Pictures. 1999. Event occurs at 2:33:32. Although based on a true story, certain elements in this motion picture have been fictionalized for dramatic effect.
  16. ^ "Don Hewitt » morley safer, mike wallace, don hewitt biography, ed bradley, don hewitt memorial | Watch TV Show Online". Archived from the original on January 29, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  17. ^ Guthrie, Marisa (December 7, 2018). "Leaked '60 Minutes' Report Raises Concerns Over CBS Hush Payments". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  18. ^ Abrams, Rachel; Koblin, John (December 6, 2018). "At '60 Minutes,' Independence Led to Trouble, Investigators Say". The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  19. ^ New York Times: "WEDDINGS; Lisa G. Hewitt, William Cassara" April 18, 1993
  20. ^ Bauder, David (August 19, 2009). "CBS News pioneer Don Hewitt, who invented '60s Minutes' dies at 86". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  21. ^ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  22. ^ Don Hewitt Personal Award Archived June 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine from the Peabody Award website
  23. ^ Arizona State University. "Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication". Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  24. ^ Hewitt, Don (1985). Minute by minute. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-54641-4.
  25. ^ Hewitt, Don (2001). Tell me a story: fifty years and 60 minutes in television (1st ed.). New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-017-2.
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