David Hartman (TV personality)
Encyclopedia
David Downs Hartman is an American journalist and media host who began his media career as an actor. He currently anchors and hosts documentary programs on cable TV's History and on PBS
. Hartman is best known as the first host of ABC's Good Morning America
, from 1975 to 1987. As an actor, he starred in the 1970s as a young resident, Dr. Paul Hunter, on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
and as a teacher in the series Lucas Tanner
.
, Rhode Island
, of German
descent, Hartman attended Mount Hermon School (now Northfield Mount Hermon
) and was geared toward professional baseball
in high school. However, he turned down a baseball scholarship to attend Duke University
, where he majored in economics
and became a member of the Sigma Chi
fraternity. After college, he served three years active duty as an officer in the U.S. Air Force
, Strategic Air Command
. He was a Supply Officer at Dow AFB
in Bangor
, Maine
, and acted in local musicals there, including Oklahoma!
, in the role of Curly.
in 1964, and The Yearling (1965). After working in films such as The Ballad of Josie (1967) and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (1968), he refocused on television, and won serious attention as a dedicated doctor on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
, winning a nomination for a Golden Globe award.
He also appeared as the character David Sutton in more than two dozen episodes of the television series The Virginian
. Hartman had guest-starring roles on a number of other popular TV series such as Marcus Welby, M.D.
, The Name of the Game
and Ironside
.
He starred in the Disney movie The Island at the Top of the World (1974) as an archaeology professor. A year earlier, Hartman did a remake of the holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street along with Jane Alexander
and Sebastian Cabot
.
On the 1974-75 NBC series Lucas Tanner
, Hartman played a retired baseball player turned unconventional high school teacher. The cancellation of this series marked the end of his acting career.
(1975–1987). During his 11 years as host, GMA became the highest rated morning news program. He conducted more than 12,000 interviews.
Hartman has been an anchor and host of a series of documentaries on the Discovery Channel
and PBS member station WNET
in New York City
. Produced by James Nicoloro, the PBS documentaries are a series of "Walk Through" documentaries about various communities around New York City, which include A Walk Down 42nd Street (August 1998), A Walk Up Broadway (March 1999), A Walk Through Harlem (December 1999), A Walk Around Brooklyn with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis (2000), A Walk Through Greenwich Village (2001), A Walk Through Central Park (2001), A Walk Through Newark (2002), A Walk Through Hoboken (2003), A Walk Through Queens (2004), A Walk Through the Bronx (2005), and A Walk Around Staten Island (2007).
In North Carolina, Hartman is also heard on North Carolina Public Radio
and WCPE-FM
as host of the North Carolina Symphony radio broadcasts. For the television documentaries he has done, Hartman would win several Emmy and journalist awards.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. Hartman is best known as the first host of ABC's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, from 1975 to 1987. As an actor, he starred in the 1970s as a young resident, Dr. Paul Hunter, on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors is an American medical drama that lasted for four seasons on NBC, from 1969 to 1973.-Overview:The series focuses on the life of Dr. David Craig The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (also known as The New Doctors) is an American medical drama that lasted for four seasons on...
and as a teacher in the series Lucas Tanner
Lucas Tanner
Lucas Tanner is an NBC television drama that aired during the 1974-75 season. The title character, played by David Hartman, was a former baseball player and sportswriter who became an english teacher at the fictional Harry S. Truman High School in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis...
.
Early life
Born in PawtucketPawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 71,148 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth largest city in the state.-History:...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
descent, Hartman attended Mount Hermon School (now Northfield Mount Hermon
Northfield Mount Hermon
Northfield Mount Hermon School, commonly referred to as NMH, is a co-educational independent boarding high school for students in grades 9–12...
) and was geared toward professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
in high school. However, he turned down a baseball scholarship to attend Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, where he majored in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and became a member of the Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
fraternity. After college, he served three years active duty as an officer in the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
. He was a Supply Officer at Dow AFB
Dow Air Force Base
-History:Dow Air Force Base began as "Godfrey Field" in 1927, on land owned by local attorney Edward Rawson Godfrey . Commercial flights began at the field in 1931 under Northeast Airlines...
in Bangor
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, and acted in local musicals there, including Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, in the role of Curly.
Acting career (1964–1975)
Hartman appeared in two Broadway shows: the original Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
in 1964, and The Yearling (1965). After working in films such as The Ballad of Josie (1967) and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (1968), he refocused on television, and won serious attention as a dedicated doctor on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors is an American medical drama that lasted for four seasons on NBC, from 1969 to 1973.-Overview:The series focuses on the life of Dr. David Craig The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (also known as The New Doctors) is an American medical drama that lasted for four seasons on...
, winning a nomination for a Golden Globe award.
He also appeared as the character David Sutton in more than two dozen episodes of the television series The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
. Hartman had guest-starring roles on a number of other popular TV series such as Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
, The Name of the Game
The Name of the Game
"The Name of the Game" is a 1977 song by Swedish pop group ABBA, and was released as the first single from the group's fifth studio album, The Album...
and Ironside
Ironside
-Entertainment and literature:*Ironside , an American television series starring Raymond Burr*Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale, an urban fantasy novel by Holly Black-People:...
.
He starred in the Disney movie The Island at the Top of the World (1974) as an archaeology professor. A year earlier, Hartman did a remake of the holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street along with Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
and Sebastian Cabot
Sebastian Cabot (actor)
Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was an English film and television actor, best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, "Giles French," opposite Brian Keith's character, in the 1960s sitcom Family Affair. He was also known for playing Dr...
.
On the 1974-75 NBC series Lucas Tanner
Lucas Tanner
Lucas Tanner is an NBC television drama that aired during the 1974-75 season. The title character, played by David Hartman, was a former baseball player and sportswriter who became an english teacher at the fictional Harry S. Truman High School in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis...
, Hartman played a retired baseball player turned unconventional high school teacher. The cancellation of this series marked the end of his acting career.
News and broadcasting career (1975–present)
In November 1975, Hartman became the first co-host of ABC's new show Good Morning AmericaGood Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
(1975–1987). During his 11 years as host, GMA became the highest rated morning news program. He conducted more than 12,000 interviews.
Hartman has been an anchor and host of a series of documentaries on the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
and PBS member station WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Produced by James Nicoloro, the PBS documentaries are a series of "Walk Through" documentaries about various communities around New York City, which include A Walk Down 42nd Street (August 1998), A Walk Up Broadway (March 1999), A Walk Through Harlem (December 1999), A Walk Around Brooklyn with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis (2000), A Walk Through Greenwich Village (2001), A Walk Through Central Park (2001), A Walk Through Newark (2002), A Walk Through Hoboken (2003), A Walk Through Queens (2004), A Walk Through the Bronx (2005), and A Walk Around Staten Island (2007).
In North Carolina, Hartman is also heard on North Carolina Public Radio
North Carolina Public Radio
North Carolina Public Radio is a public radio network based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It broadcasts NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International, and BBC programming in an "all-news-and-information" format...
and WCPE-FM
WCPE-FM
- WCPE affiliates:Portions of WCPE's programming can also be heard on these stations:Kansas* KBTL 88.1 El Dorado - variousIllinois* WLNX 88.9 FM Lincoln - 24 hoursMichigan* WCHW-FM 91.3 FM Bay CityM-F, 7 p.m...
as host of the North Carolina Symphony radio broadcasts. For the television documentaries he has done, Hartman would win several Emmy and journalist awards.
Personal life
Hartman was married to Maureen Downey from 1974 until her death on September 17, 1997. In 2001, he married Mary Clark Putman, a widowed homemaker. He has four children from his first marriage and three from his second.External links
- David Hartman at Internet Off-Broadway Database