Ed Bradley

Infobox Person
name= Ed Bradley


caption=
birth_date= birth date|1941|6|22|mf=y
birth_place= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death_date= death date and age|2006|11|9|1941|6|22
death_place= New York, New York, U.S.
education = Cheyney State College, PA
occupation = News correspondent
title =
spouse = Patricia Blanchet
parents =
children =
nationality = American
website =

Edward Rudolph Bradley, Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American journalist, best known for 26 years of award-winning work on the CBS News television magazine "60 Minutes". During his earlier career he also covered the fall of Saigon, was the first black television correspondent to cover the White House, and anchored his own news broadcast, "CBS Sunday Night with Ed Bradley." ["Remembering Ed Bradley", "60 Minutes", November 12, 2006] He was the recipient of multiple awards, including 19 Emmy Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Early life

Bradley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child to an African American father and mother. His parents divorced when he was two, after which he was raised by his mother Gladys, who worked two jobs to make ends meet. Bradley, who was referred to with the childhood name of "Butch Bradley" was able to see his father, who was in the vending machine business and owned a restaurant in Detroit, in the summertime. When he was 9, his mother enrolled him in an all-black Catholic boarding school, which had been set up to keep poor children "off the streets." He attended Mount Saint Charles Academy, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, [ [http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2008/01/02/a_star_in_the_classroom/ From prison to prime time] ] and then another historically black school, Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania) in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1964 with a degree in Education. His first job was teaching sixth grade at the William B. Mann Elementary School in Philadelphia's Wynnefield community. While he was teaching, he moonlighted at the old WDAS studios on Edgley Drive in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, working for free and later, for minimum wage. He programmed music, read news, and covered basketball games.

Career

His introduction to news reporting came at WDAS-FM during the riots in Philadelphia in the 1960s. In 1967, he landed a full-time job at the CBS-owned New York radio station WCBS. In 1971, he moved to Paris, France. Initially living off his savings, he eventually ran out of money, and began working as a stringer for CBS News, covering the Paris Peace Talks. In 1972, he volunteered to be transferred to Saigon to cover the Vietnam War, as well as spending time in Phnom Penh covering the war in Cambodia. It was there that he was injured by a mortar round, receiving shrapnel wounds to his back and arm.

[
Jimmy Carter in 1978] In 1974, he moved to Washington, D.C., and was promoted to covering the Carter campaign in 1976. He then became CBS News' White House correspondent (the first black White House television correspondent) until 1978, when he was invited to move to "CBS Reports", where he served as principal correspondent until 1981. In that year, Walter Cronkite departed as anchor of the "CBS Evening News", and was replaced by the "60 Minutes" correspondent Dan Rather, leaving an opening on the program which was filled by Bradley.

Over the course of his 26 years on "60 Minutes", he did over 500 stories, covering nearly every possible type of news, from "heavy" segments on war, politics, poverty and corruption, to lighter biographical pieces, or stories on sports, music, and cuisine. Among others, he interviewed Howard Stern, Lawrence Olivier, Subcomandante Marcos , Timothy McVeigh, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, the 92-year-old George Burns, and Michael Jordan, as well as conducting the first television interview of Bob Dylan in 20 years. Some of his quirkier moments included playing blackjack with the blind Ray Charles, interviewing a Soviet general in a Russian sauna, and having a practical joke played on him by Muhammad Ali. Bradley's favorite segment on "60 Minutes" was when as a 42-year-old correspondent, he interviewed the 64-year-old singer Lena Horne. He said, "If I arrived at the Pearly gates and Saint Peter said, 'What have you done to deserve entry?' I'd just say, 'Did you see my Lena Horne story??'"

On the show, Bradley was known for his sense of style, and was the first (and thus far, the only) male correspondent to regularly wear an earring on the air. He had his left ear pierced in 1986 and says he was inspired to do it after receiving encouragement from Liza Minnelli following an interview with the actress.

Personal life

He never had children, but was married to Haitian-born artist Patricia Blanchet, who he had met at a museum where she was working as a tour guide. Despite the age difference, he pursued her, and they dated for ten years before marrying in a private ceremony in Woody Creek, Colorado, where they had a home. Bradley also maintained homes in East Hampton, New York, and New York City, New York.

Bradley was known for loving all kinds of music, but was especially a jazz music enthusiast. He hosted the Peabody Award-winning "Jazz at Lincoln Center" on National Public Radio for over a decade until just before his death. A big fan of the Neville brothers, Bradley performed on stage with the bunch, and was known as 'the fifth Neville brother'. [cite web | url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/09/lkl.01.html | title=Larry King Live | work=CNN | date=2006-11-09 | accessdate=2006-11-12] Bradley was also friends with Jimmy Buffett, and would often perform onstage with him, under the name "Teddy." Bradley was of limited musical ability and did not have an extensive repertoire, but would usually draw smiles by singing the 1951 classic by Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Sixty Minute Man."

In the company of his longtime friend Jimmy Buffett, Bradley died on November 9, 2006 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan of complications from leukemia. [cite web | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/09/health/webmd/main2170023.shtml | title=CBS' Ed Bradley Dies of Leukemia | work=CBS | author=Miranda Hitti | date=2006-11-09 | accessdate = 2007-03-06] He was sixty-five.

Legacy

Bradley was honored in 2007 with a traditional jazz funeral procession at the New Orleans Jazzfest, of which he was a large supporter. The parade, which took place on the first day of the six day festival, circled the fairgrounds and included two brass bands.

Columnist Clarence Page wrote:

Bradley had been a season ticket holder to the New York Knicks for over 20 years. On November 13, 2006 they honored him with a moment of silence. On the "60 Minutes" program after Bradley's death, his longtime friend Wynton Marsalis closed the show with a solo trumpet performance, playing some of the music Bradley loved best.

Awards

* The Emmy Award 19 times
* Peabody Award for his African AIDS report, "Death By Denial"
* Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
* Paul White Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association
* George Polk Award for Foreign Television (1979) [cite web | url=http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2641304&page=1 | title=Legendary '60 Minutes' Correspondent Ed Bradley Has Died | work=ABC News | date=2006-11-09 | accessdate=2006-11-09]
* In 2005, the National Association of Black Journalists awarded Bradley, who was one the first African Americans to break into network television news, with their Lifetime Achievement Award. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/business/media/10bradleycnd.html?ex=1178686800&en=0c58f7919c9becd8&ei=5087&excamp=GGBUedbradley "Ed Bradley, Veteran CBS Newsman, Dies"] ,"New York Times", November 9, 2006]
* 2007, Bradley posthumously won the 66th annual George Foster Peabody award for his examination of the Duke University rape case.

Notes

References

* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13501.shtml CBS News Biography]
*imdb name|id=0103211|name=Ed Bradley
* [http://www.rtndf.org/asfi/awards/bradley.shtml Interview by John Sears for "Communicator," August 2000]
* [http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20061113-094938-4886r.htm Remembering Ed Bradley] - Clarence Page - November 14, 2006

External links

* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=1073 Ed Bradley: Journalist and Jazzman]
* [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22archive+of+american+television+interview+with+ed+bradley%22 Archive of American Television Interview with Ed Bradley in May 12, 2000 on Google Video]
* [http://people.monstersandcritics.com/article_1220213.php/Ed_Bradley_remembered_on_CNNs_Larry_King Tribute to Ed Bradley by CNN's Larry King]
* [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/11/ed_bradley_reporter_restless_r.html Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist Clarence Page on Ed Bradley (11/13/2006)]
*

Persondata
NAME= Bradley, Ed
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Bradley, Edward Rudolph, Jr.
SHORT DESCRIPTION= News correspondent
DATE OF BIRTH= June 22, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH= November 9, 2006
PLACE OF DEATH={New York, New York, U.S.