33 Facts About Edwin Newman

Edwin Harold Newman was an American newscaster, journalist, and author.

Edwin Newman is known for a 23-year career in television news with the National Broadcasting Company, from 1961 to 1984.

Edwin Newman was born on January 25,1919, in New York City to Myron, a credit manager, and Rose Edwin Newman.

Edwin Newman briefly did postgraduate work in American government at Louisiana State University before becoming a journalist.

Edwin Newman initially worked for the wire services: first for the International News Service as a copy boy, mostly in the Senate, and then United Press.

Edwin Newman served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1945 as a signal officer, stationed first in Trinidad and then at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Between 1949 and 1952 Edwin Newman worked as a freelancer, primarily for NBC News.

Edwin Newman wrote for a number of publications and, in 1951, worked for the Marshall Plan in Greece.

Edwin Newman covered significant stories: the 1952 funeral of King George VI from the freezing battlements of Windsor Castle; Britain's emergence as a nuclear power; and the 1956 Suez Crisis.

Edwin Newman was an NBC bureau chief, first in Rome and then in Paris.

Edwin Newman covered the accession to power of President Charles de Gaulle in 1958.

Edwin Newman was decorated as Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur for his coverage of de Gaulle's funeral in 1970 and for improving the understanding of France in the United States.

Between 1961 and 1984, Edwin Newman participated in a wide variety of NBC programs, primarily for NBC News.

Edwin Newman was a regular on the Today show and was its news anchor from July 24 to December 22,1961, then a contributor and guest host.

From 1960 to 1984 Edwin Newman played a central role in NBC's coverage of the Republican and Democratic national conventions, when gavel-to-gavel coverage was the norm.

Edwin Newman anchored the television coverage of the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War, the 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and the 1973 Vietnam ceasefire.

Edwin Newman was the only radio journalist to interview Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

Edwin Newman moderated two presidential debates, both of which demanded the calm and courtesy for which he was known.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan faced former Vice President Walter Mondale; when Reagan overran the time limit for his closing statement, Edwin Newman was obliged to cut off Reagan's remarks.

Edwin Newman enjoyed music and hosted summer Boston Symphony concerts from Tanglewood.

Edwin Newman contributed to the work of the Religious Affairs Unit at NBC, and was a Broadway drama critic from 1965 to 1971.

Edwin Newman provided in-studio news updates in 1980, during the short-lived morning version of The David Letterman Show.

Edwin Newman showed his singing voice and hosted Saturday Night Live, becoming the first network news anchor to host.

Edwin Newman wrote a book called Strictly Speaking in 1974.

Edwin Newman narrated a series of programs about the restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.

Edwin Newman was in demand to play himself in films and on television.

Edwin Newman lectured extensively on the English language and the news business.

Edwin Newman spent his final years quietly, moving with his wife to England in 2007 to be nearer their daughter.

Edwin Newman died of pneumonia in Oxford on August 13,2010.

Rigel Edwin Newman died in May 2020, shortly followed by their daughter in December 2020 aged 75, following years of ill health.

Around the time Edwin Newman left NBC in 1984, he twice hosted Saturday Night Live; on one occasion, to the delight of the audience, he sang "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" as part of the opening monologue.

Edwin Newman briefly anchored a faux newscast based on the tabloid newspaper Weekly World News for the USA Network in 1996.

Edwin Newman served for a number of years as chairman of the usage panel at Houghton Mifflin's American Heritage Dictionary.