Don Hewitt
Encyclopedia
Donald Shepard "Don" Hewitt (December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an American
television news producer
and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes
, the CBS
television news magazine, in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running prime-time
broadcast on American television. Under Hewitt's leadership, 60 Minutes was the only news program ever rated the nation's top-ranked television program, an achievement it accomplished five times. Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.
, New York
, the son of Frieda (née Pike) and Ely S. Hewitt. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia
, and his mother's family was of German Jewish descent. 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, NY.
and started his journalism
career in 1942 as head copyboy for the New York Herald Tribune
. He joined the United States Merchant Marine Academy
in 1943. 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.
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
, which was seeking someone who had "picture experience" to help with production of television broadcast. Hewitt started at its news division, CBS News
, in 1948 and served as producer
-director
of the network's evening-news broadcast with Douglas Edwards
for fourteen years. He was also the first director of See It Now
, co-produced by host Edward R. Murrow
and Fred W. Friendly
that started in 1952; his use of "two film projectors cutting back and forth breaks up the monotony of a talking head
, improves editing, and shapes future news broadcasts." In 1956, Hewitt was the only one to capture on film the final moments of the SS Andrea Doria
as it sank and disappeared under the water.
Hewitt directed the televised production of the 1960 U.S. Presidential candidate debates between Richard Nixon
and John F. Kennedy
; they were the first presidential-candidate debates
ever televised. He later became executive producer
of the CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite
, helming the famous broadcast of John F. Kennedy
's assassination as the story developed.
He then launched the eight-time Emmy Award
-winning show 60 Minutes. Within ten years, the show reached the top 10 in viewership, a position it maintained for 21 of the following 22 seasons, until the 1999-2000 season.
Hewitt was a primary figure in the 1996 tobacco-industry
scandal involving tobacco company Brown & Williamson
and 60 Minutes. The scandal was the inspiration for the 1999 film The Insider
: Hewitt was portrayed in the film by Philip Baker Hall
.
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, 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." Within a couple of years, Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer at the age of 81, signing a ten-year contract with CBS to be an executive producer-at-large for CBS News
.
In January 2010, 60 Minutes dedicated an entire show to the story and memory of Don Hewitt.
s given to 60 Minutes, Hewitt was given a personal Peabody Award
in 1988, for his accomplishments that have "touch[ed] the lives of just about every American." In 1993, he and 60 Minutes were elected to the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
.
On April 3, 2008, Hewitt was honored with Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow Award
for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism.
from which he died on August 19, 2009, at his home in Bridgehampton
, New York. He is survived by his wife of thirty years, writer and journalist Marilyn Berger
, his four children and five grandchildren. He was previously married to Frankie Hewitt
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television news producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television news magazine, in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running prime-time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
broadcast on American television. Under Hewitt's leadership, 60 Minutes was the only news program ever rated the nation's top-ranked television program, an achievement it accomplished five times. Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.
Early life
Hewitt was born in New York CityNew 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...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the son of Frieda (née Pike) and Ely S. Hewitt. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and his mother's family was of German Jewish descent. Hewitt's family moved to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, shortly after his birth, where his father worked as a classified advertising
Classified advertising
Classified advertising is a form of advertising which is particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals which may be sold or distributed free of charge...
manager for the Boston Herald American. His family later lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. He graduated from New Rochelle High School, in New Rochelle, NY.
College and early career
Hewitt attended New York UniversityNew York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and started his journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
career in 1942 as head copyboy for the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
. He joined the United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States Service academies...
in 1943. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended in 1945, Hewitt returned to his job as copyboy for the Tribune, then worked for The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
at a bureau in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. However, his wife Mary Weaver—whom he married while working in Memphis—wanted to go to New York City, so he moved back.
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
Career at CBS News
Soon he received a lucrative offer at the CBS television networkTelevision network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
, which was seeking someone who had "picture experience" to help with production of television broadcast. Hewitt started at its news division, CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, in 1948 and served as producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
-director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
of the network's evening-news broadcast with Douglas Edwards
Douglas Edwards
Douglas Edwards was America's first network news television anchor, anchoring CBS's first nightly news broadcast from 1948–1962, which was later to be titled CBS Evening News.-Early life and career:...
for fourteen years. He was also the first director of See It Now
See It Now
See It Now is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, Murrow being the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, See It Now won four Emmy Awards and was nominated three times...
, co-produced by host Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
and Fred W. Friendly
Fred W. Friendly
Fred W. Friendly was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program See It Now...
that started in 1952; his use of "two film projectors cutting back and forth breaks up the monotony of a talking head
Talking head
Talking head may refer to:Computers and internet*Computer facial animation, area of computer graphics that animates images of the human head and face*Interactive online charactersFilm and television*Talking Head , 1992 film by Mamoru Oshii...
, improves editing, and shapes future news broadcasts." In 1956, Hewitt was the only one to capture on film the final moments of the SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria[p] was an ocean liner for the Italian Line home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for its sinking in 1956, when 46 people died. Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and...
as it sank and disappeared under the water.
Hewitt directed the televised production of the 1960 U.S. Presidential candidate debates between Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
; they were the first presidential-candidate debates
United States presidential election debates
During presidential elections in the United States, it has become customary for the main candidates to engage in a debate...
ever televised. He later became executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
with Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, helming the famous broadcast of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's assassination as the story developed.
He then launched the eight-time Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning show 60 Minutes. Within ten years, the show reached the top 10 in viewership, a position it maintained for 21 of the following 22 seasons, until the 1999-2000 season.
Hewitt was a primary figure in the 1996 tobacco-industry
Tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
scandal involving tobacco company Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
and 60 Minutes. The scandal was the inspiration for the 1999 film The Insider
The Insider (film)
The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...
: Hewitt was portrayed in the film by Philip Baker Hall
Philip Baker Hall
-Early life:Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of a factory worker father who was from Montgomery, Alabama. He attended the University of Toledo. As a younger man, Hall served in the military, started a family, and became a high school English teacher. In 1961, he decided to become an actor...
.
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
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager is the Chairman of CBS News and the Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, the hour-long CBS news magazine created in 1968.-Career:...
, producer of 60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II was a weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the original 60 Minutes series.It aired on CBS on Wednesdays, then later moved to Fridays at 8 p.m...
, was being floated as a possible replacement, 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." Within a couple of years, Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer at the age of 81, signing a ten-year contract with CBS to be an executive producer-at-large for CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
.
In January 2010, 60 Minutes dedicated an entire show to the story and memory of Don Hewitt.
Honors
In addition to several Peabody AwardPeabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
s given to 60 Minutes, Hewitt was given a personal Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
in 1988, for his accomplishments that have "touch[ed] the lives of just about every American." In 1993, he and 60 Minutes were elected to the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
The NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame is a yearly honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. One inductee from radio and one from television are named at the yearly NAB conference.-Radio:*2011 * 2010 Ron Chapman* 2009 Vin Scully* 2008 Larry Lujack...
.
On April 3, 2008, Hewitt was honored with Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow Award
Edward R. Murrow Award (WSU)
The Edward R. Murrow Award is a journalism/communication honor extended by the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication of Washington State University.The award is for "commitment to excellence that exemplifies the career of Edward R...
for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism.
Personal life
In March 2009, Hewitt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
from which he died on August 19, 2009, at his home in Bridgehampton
Bridgehampton, New York
Bridgehampton is a hamlet in the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,381 at the 2000 census....
, New York. He is survived by his wife of thirty years, writer and journalist Marilyn Berger
Marilyn Berger
Marilyn Berger Hewitt , is an American broadcast and newspaper journalist and author. She worked for newspapers including the New York Times and Washington Post, and hosted local television news programs in New York City....
, his four children and five grandchildren. He was previously married to Frankie Hewitt
Frankie Hewitt
Frankie Hewitt was an American theater producer and founder of the Ford's Theatre Society, responsible for restoring and reopening the historic site as a working theater....
.
External links
- Don Hewitt - Daily Telegraph obituary