Russell Wayne Baker was an American journalist, narrator, writer of Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical commentary and self-critical prose, and author of Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography Growing Up.
17 Facts About Russell Baker
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Russell Baker was a columnist for The New York Times from 1962 to 1998, and hosted the PBS show Masterpiece Theatre from 1993 to 2004.
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Russell Baker's father died of complications of diabetes, and his destitute mother moved with some of her children to her brother's house in New Jersey.
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At the age of eleven, as a self-professed "bump on a log", Russell Baker decided to become a writer because he figured, "what writers did couldn't even be classified as work".
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Russell Baker graduated from Baltimore City College in 1943, a "magnet" secondary school with selective admissions and a specialized curriculum focusing on the humanities, social studies, liberal arts and classical studies.
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Russell Baker wrote extensively about his experiences at the nicknamed "Castle on the Hill" in his 1982 memoir Growing Up.
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Russell Baker earned a scholarship at nearby Johns Hopkins University, studying for a year before leaving to join the United States Navy as a pilot during World War II.
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Russell Baker left the service in 1945, returned to Hopkins for two more years, and graduated with a degree in English in 1947.
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Russell Baker described in his first memoirs learning his way around and working his way up experiencing the journalism trade among many legendary old-timers.
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Russell Baker soon improved enough to be sent overseas to Britain as The Sun London correspondent in 1952.
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Russell Baker was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993.
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Russell Baker wrote a sequel to his autobiography in 1989, called The Good Times.
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Russell Baker edited the anthologies The Norton Book of Light Verse and Russell Baker's Book of American Humor.
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Russell Baker wrote the libretto for the 1979 musical play Home Again, Home Again, starring Ronny Cox, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Barbara Fried, choreography by Onna White, and direction by Gene Saks.
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In 1950, Russell Baker married Miriam Nash, who died four years before him in 2015.
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Russell Baker died at his longtime home in Leesburg, Virginia, on January 21,2019, after complications following a fall.
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Russell Baker is, in my opinion, a precious national resource, and as long as he does not get his own television show, America will remain stronger than Russia.