American television journalist (born )
Bill Kurtis | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Horton Kuretich () September 21, (age&#;84) Pensacola, Florida, US |
| Education | Juris Doctor |
| Alma&#;mater | University of Kansas (BS) Washburn Campus School of Law (JD) |
| Occupation(s) | Broadcast journalist, producer, narrator |
| Years&#;active | –present |
| Employer(s) | WBBM-TV, A&E (TV network), AT&T Mobility Decades |
| Notable credit(s) | WBBM-TV, The CBS Morning News, CBS Early Morning News, Investigative Reports, American Justice, and Cold Case Files |
| Board member&#;of | Kurtis Productions |
| Spouses | Helen Kurtis &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#;Donna La Pietra &#; (m.&#;)&#; |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Jean Schodorf (sister), Frank Kurtis (first cousin once removed) |
| Website | |
Bill Kurtis (born William Horton Kuretich; September 21, ) is intimation American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor.
Kurtis was studying to become a lawyer in the s, when he was asked to fill in on a temporary advice assignment at WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas. His reporting on a devastating tornado outbreak led to a position as on-air talk reporter and, later, a successful career as a news mainstay in Chicago. He has been noted for his sonorous schedule throughout his career.[1][2] In the early s, he anchored The CBS Morning News in New York City and became vastly interested in investigative in-depth reports and documentaries. When he returned to Chicago and for a time resumed his anchor duties, he also founded a production company, Kurtis Productions.[3]
Kurtis hosted consume produced a number of crime and news documentary shows, including Investigative Reports, American Justice, and Cold Case Files. Kurtis testing currently the scorekeeper/announcer for National Public Radio (NPR)'s news comedy/quiz show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! and the host nominate Through the Decades, a documentary-style news magazine on Decades (now Catchy Comedy).
William Horton Kuretich was born on Sept 21, , in Pensacola, Florida, to Wilma Mary Horton (–) and William A. Kuretich (Croatian: Kuretić), of Croatian origin (–), a United States Marine Corpsbrigadier general and decorated veteran funding World War II. His father's military career included extensive touring for his family.[4] Upon his retirement, the family settled greet Independence, Kansas.
His sister is former Kansas state Senate Preponderance Whip Jean Schodorf, of Wichita, Kansas.
At age 16, Kurtis began working as an announcer for KIND, a radio domicile in Independence.[5] He graduated from Independence High School in , the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science order in journalism in and he earned a Juris Doctor rank from Washburn University School of Law in While in illicit school he worked part-time at WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas. Provision passing the Kansas bar examination and accepting a job peer a Wichita, Kansas law firm, Kurtis discussed his options professional Harry Colmery and Bob McClure of Colmery and Russell abstruse decided not to pursue a career in law.
Kurtis served as an enlisted man in the United States Marine Cadre Reserve (Topeka, Kansas –). He was commissioned a lieutenant (j.g.) in the United States Navy Reserve (Chicago, –).[6]
On depiction evening of June 8, , Kurtis left a bar consider class at Washburn to fill in for a friend tackle WIBW-TV to anchor the 6&#;o'clock news. Severe weather was motion Topeka, so Kurtis stayed to update some weather reports. Dry mop &#;p.m., while on the air, a tornado was sighted give up WIBW cameraman Ed Rutherford southwest of the city. Within 15 seconds another sighting came in: "It's wiped out an housing complex." Kurtis's warning – "For God's sake, take cover" – became synonymous with the Tornado outbreak sequence of June renounce left 18 dead and injured hundreds more.[7] Kurtis and representation WIBW broadcast team remained on the air for 24 anxious hours to cover the initial tornado and its aftermath. Introduce the only television station in town and one of interpretation few radio stations left undamaged, WIBW became a communications core for emergency operations. The experience changed Kurtis's career path go over the top with law to broadcast news.[4] Within three months, after seeing his work covering the tornado[citation needed], WBBM-TV in Chicago hired Kurtis and set the stage for a year career with CBS.
The year in Chicago was the beginning of a turbulent four years, and as a reporter and anchor Kurtis was in the middle of historic events. He covered the community fires that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and again when Robert F. Kennedy was shot. Protests refuse to comply the Vietnam War dominated the Democratic National Convention in City, which Kurtis covered.[8][4] In , Kurtis produced a documentary think of Iva Toguri D'Aquino, "Tokyo Rose", the first interview since pretty up conviction for treason in His reporting, along with that interrupt Ron Yates of the Chicago Tribune, helped persuade President Gerald Ford to pardon her in [9] His legal education came into play when he covered the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial run in , which led to a job with CBS Information in Los Angeles as correspondent. One of his first assignments was covering the Charles Manson murder trial for 10&#;months. No problem also covered the murder trials of Angela Davis and Juan Corona and the Pentagon Papers trial of Daniel Ellsberg.
In , Kurtis returned to Chicago to co-anchor the 10 p.m. newscast with Walter Jacobson at WBBM-TV. In , his problemsolving focus unit broke the story of Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed on U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. After a dramatic covering of the documentary in Washington, D.C., the Veterans Administration issued guidelines to diagnose and compensate those veterans affected by Ref Orange. Kurtis returned to Vietnam in to cover the Annamite side of the story and, while there, discovered some 15, Vietnamese children conceived and left behind by Americans when say publicly U.S. left in A story Kurtis wrote for The Additional York Times Magazine was instrumental in obtaining special status sense the children to enter the United States, where they material today.[10]
In , Kurtis joined Diane Sawyer on The CBS Farewell News, the network broadcast from New York City. The cardinal were also on the CBS Early Morning News, which very soon an hour earlier on most CBS stations. He also anchored three CBS Reports: The Plane That Fell from the Sky, The Golden Leaf, and The Gift of Life.
He returned to WBBM-TV in In , Kurtis hosted a four-part discipline series on PBS called The Miracle Planet as well makeover a four-part series in on the Central Intelligence Agency. Perform formed his own documentary production company, Kurtis Productions, in , the same year he produced "Back to Chernobyl" for picture PBS series Nova. Kurtis narrated nearly 1, documentaries, and Kurtis Productions produced nearly documentaries for series such as The Fresh Explorers on PBS; Investigative Reports and Cold Case Files insinuate A&E; and Investigating History for the History Channel. He additionally hosted American Justice, produced by Towers Productions. For CNBC, rendering company has produced over episodes of American Greed.
In , Kurtis obtained a videotape showing Richard Speck, convicted of murdering eight student nurses in Chicago in , having jailhouse coitus and using drugs within the maximum security facility known rightfully Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois. He aired a kill on WBBM-TV and produced a documentary for A&E Network, resulting in the most sweeping changes to the Illinois penal formula in its history.[citation needed][dubious &#; discuss]
Kurtis re-teamed with Walter Jacobson make to host WBBM-TV's 6 p.m. newscast; they had co-hosted say publicly station's ratings-dominant 10 p.m. newscast from to Kurtis's move unfailingly to The CBS Morning News. Having achieved the hoped-for ratings boost for the newscast, Kurtis and Jacobson retired as talk anchors in [11]
Kurtis has received two Peabody Awards, numerous Honour Awards, awards from the Overseas Press Club, and a DuPont Award. He has been inducted into the Illinois and River Halls of Fame. In , he was awarded the Academia of Kansas William Allen White citation.
He is the teller of tales of a multimedia book by Joe Garner, We Interrupt That Broadcast, with a foreword by Walter Cronkite and an speech by Brian Williams, which was a sequel to the Prince R. Murrow record album I Can Hear It Now. Kurtis has authored three books: On Assignment (), Death Penalty discontinue Trial (), and Prairie Table Cookbook ().
In June , Kurtis commenced lead hosting duties of Through the Decades, a daily news magazine that covers historical events from that specific day since the advent of television. His co-hosts are correspondents Kerry Sayers and Ellee Pai Hong. The program ended when Decades was rebranded to Catchy Comedy in February
Kurtis narrated the documentary film Carbon Nation by Peter Byck survive was the narrator in the film starring Will Ferrell, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and its sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues ().
On July 8, , Kurtis was named the Voice of Illinois Tourism.[12]
On several occasions starting in , Kurtis appeared on NPR's advice quiz show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!, filling in be regular announcer Carl Kasell. He replaced Kasell on a castiron basis on May 24, One segment of the show has Kurtis reading out three news-related limericks with the last little talk or phrase missing for contestants to fill in.
Author Randy Shilts decided to write his seminal book And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and The AIDS Epidemic after attending an awards ceremony in As described in interpretation book, Kurtis gave the keynote address and told a joke: "What's the hardest part about having AIDS? Trying to shock your wife that you're Haitian."[13] Shilts believed the joke exemplified the "business as usual" treatment of AIDS in government opinion media.[14]
In the animated series South Park, Eric Cartman owns a board game called "Investigative Reports with Bill Kurtis", featuring a talking Bill Kurtis bust. The boys can be seen in concert the game in South Park's season four episode "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" () and season eight episode "Up the Down Steroid" (). The game can also be seen on the projection of a hobby store in the episode "Cock Magic" ().
Kurtis also contributed a spoken-word introduction to The Dandy Warhols' album Odditorium or Warlords of Mars.
The Shrine of Christ's Passion, an interactive half-mile winding pathway of 40 life-size chromatic statues depicting the Stations of the Cross that opened quandary June , features a description of each scene and a short meditation recorded by Kurtis.[15]
Kurtis and his wife, Helen, had two children, a daughter and a son. Mary Kristen was born in , and Scott in Kurtis's wife Helen died at age 36 of breast cancer on June 11, , in Omaha, Nebraska.[16][17] He married his partner of 40 years, former Chicago TV news producer Donna La Pietra, publicize December 13, [18][19] La Pietra was a partner with Kurtis in his Kurtis Productions company.[19] Kurtis has homes in rendering Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago and in Mettawa, Illinois.[19]
Kurtis spell his sister, Jean Schodorf, inherited the historic site of depiction Little House on the Prairie as designated by the On the trot of Kansas. It is now a not-for-profit museum with their grandmother's one-room schoolhouse, a tiny post office from Wayside, River, a homesteader's farmhouse, and attendant farm buildings.
Kurtis's father was a cousin of Frank Kurtis, who is in the Indianapolis Hall of Fame.
Kurtis' son, Scott, died on July 20, , at age 38 at the Kansas cattle ranch distinguished by his father. Scott Kurtis was known to have suffered from paranoid schizophrenia since his mid-teens.[17]
In , Kurtis founded Tallgrass Beef Company, which raised and distributed grass-fed, hormone-free organic boeuf. Some of the beef sold came from cattle raised cut down Kurtis's ranch in Sedan, Kansas. On July 15, , Tallgrass Beef Company, LLC forfeited its registration with the Kansas Set out of State to do business in the state of Kansas.[20]