Television Hall of Fame
by Sylviastel | created - 11 Apr 2015 | updated - 16 Jan 2020 | PublicJoyce Hall 1985
I Love Lucy (First television series to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990).
Thomas Murphy 2008
1. Lucille Ball
Actress | I Love Lucy
The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York, the daughter of Desiree Evelyn "DeDe" (Hunt) and Henry Durrell "Had" Ball. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked ...
1984
2. Milton Berle
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Milton Berle was an American comedian and actor.
Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre (1948-55), he was the first major American television star and ...
1984
3. Paddy Chayefsky
Writer | Marty
Author, producer, and composer who earned a Bachelor of Science degree from CCNY, then a Purple Heart during World War II while serving in the US Army. Joining ASCAP in 1955, his chief musical collaborators included George Bassman and Harry Warren. His popular-song compositions include "Marty" and ...
1984
4. Norman Lear
Producer | All in the Family
Norman Lear enjoyed a long career in television and film, political and social activism, and philanthropy.
Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear flew 52 combat missions over Europe in World War II before beginning his television career. His classic shows of the 1970s and '80s - All in the ...
1984
5. Edward R. Murrow
Around the World in Eighty Days
Pioneering radio and TV reporter who was the dominant figure in American broadcast journalism during its early years. His dramatic, in-person coverage of the Anschluss (German union with Austria), the 1939 German-Soviet invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, brought him widespread...
1984
6. William Paley
Self | The 1st TV Academy Hall of Fame
William Paley was born on September 27, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was married to Babe Paley and Dorothy Jones Hart . He died on October 26, 1990 in New York City, New York, USA.
1984
7. David Sarnoff
Actor | Susan and God
David Sarnoff was one of the giants of 20th Century mass media as the head of Radio Corp. of America (RCA) and the National Broadcasting System (MBC). Sarnoff, who was of Jewish descent, was born on February 27, 1891 in Belarus in the old Russian Empire and emigrated with his family to the United ...
1984
8. Carol Burnett
Soundtrack | The Carol Burnett Show
The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that...
1985
9. Sid Caesar
Actor | Grease
Comedian, saxophonist, composer, actor and musician, he performed within the orchestras of Charlie Spivak, Shep Fields and Claude Thornhill as saxophonist. Later, as super-hip jazz musician "Cool Cees" in television skits, he played tenor saxophone, and sang with the satirical trio "The Hair Cuts" ...
1985
10. Walter Cronkite
Actor | Liberty's Kids
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Helen Lena (Fritsche) and Walter Leland Cronkite, a doctor. Throughout his early career, Cronkite worked with newspapers. During World War II, he served as a news reporter. In 1950, Cronkite became a journalist. He ...
1985
11. Rod Serling
Writer | The Twilight Zone
A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both ...
1985
12. Ed Sullivan
Actor | Bye Bye Birdie
The beloved Impresario of TV variety from 1948 to 1971, Ed Sullivan originally made his name as a newspaper sportswriter, radio broadcaster and theater columnist for the New York Daily News. His column focused primarily on Broadway shows and juicy items about its stars. On the new medium of TV, ...
1985
13. Sylvester L. Weaver Jr.
Writer | Your Show of Shows
No one in the broadcast television industry -- in the U.S. or abroad -- will doubt for an instant that Sylvester (Pat) Weaver has been its foremost creative force. He was born in Los Angeles, California, to Elenor Isabel (Dixon) and Sylvester Laflin Weaver. From commercial television's nascent days...
1985
14. Steve Allen
Actor | Casino
Steve Allen was born on December 26, 1921 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Casino (1995), The Player (1992) and College Confidential (1960). He was married to Jayne Meadows and Dorothy Goodman. He died on October 30, 2000 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.
1986
15. Fred Coe
Producer | A Thousand Clowns
Fred Coe was born on December 23, 1914 in Alligator, Mississippi, USA. He was a producer and director, known for A Thousand Clowns (1965), Lights Out (1946) and Producers' Showcase (1954). He was married to Joyce Beeler and Alice Marie Griggs. He died on April 29, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, ...
1986
16. Walt Disney
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney, a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of ...
1986
17. Jackie Gleason
Actor | The Hustler
Comedian, actor, composer and conductor, educated in New York public schools. He was a master of ceremonies in amateur shows, a carnival barker, daredevil driver and a disc jockey, and later a comedian in night clubs. By the mid-1950s he had turned to writing original music and recording a series ...
1986
18. Mary Tyler Moore
Actress | Ordinary People
Mary Tyler Moore was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on December 29, 1936. Moore's family relocated to California when she was eight. Her childhood was troubled, due in part to her mother's alcoholism. The eldest of three siblings, she attended a Catholic high school and married upon her graduation, in...
1986
19. Frank Stanton
Self | Premiere
Graduating from Ohio State University with a Ph.D. in psychology in 1935, his studies brought him to the attention of CBS founder William S. Paley who was interested in his work in audience research. He developed scientific methods for measuring radio listener ship, a forerunner of the devices used...
1986
20. Burr Tillstrom
Actor | Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Burr Tillstrom was born on October 13, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1969), The Wizard of Oz (1950) and That Was the Week That Was (1963). He died on December 6, 1985 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
1986
21. Johnny Carson
Soundtrack | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson, the legendary "King of Late Night TV" who dominated the medium's nether hours for three decades, was born in Corning, Iowa, but moved with his family to nearby Norfolk, Nebraska when he was eight years old. He was the son of Ruth E. (Hook) and Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a manager of ...
1987
22. Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Producer | Le monde du silence
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910, in Saint-André-de-Cubzac (Gironde) in France. He entered the naval academy in 1930, was graduated and became a gunnery officer. Then, while he was training to be a pilot, a serious car accident ended his aviation career. In order to rehabilitate his ...
1987
23. Leonard H. Goldenson
Producer | Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
Leonard H. Goldenson was born on December 7, 1905 in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a producer, known for Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina (1958), The 42nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1990) and Dinner with the President (1953). He died on December 27, 1999 in Longboat Key, Florida, ...
1987
24. Jim Henson
Soundtrack | The Muppet Show
Jim Henson never thought that he would make a name of himself in puppetry; it was merely a way of getting himself on television. The vehicle that achieved it was Sam and Friends (1955), a late-night puppet show that was on after the 11:00 news in Washington DC. It proved to be very popular and ...
1987
25. Bob Hope
Actor | The Ghost Breakers
Comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons of Avis (Townes), light opera singer, and William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His maternal grandmother was Welsh. Hope moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents...
1987
26. Ernie Kovacs
Actor | Bell Book and Candle
Author, actor, comedian, composer and producer. He was educated at the New York School of Theatre, and received the Sylvania Television Award. Joining the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1957, he composed a number of songs and themes, a number of which were used in ...
1987
27. Eric Sevareid
Actor | The Right Stuff
Eric Sevareid was born on November 26, 1912 in Velva, North Dakota, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Right Stuff (1983), Taxi (1978) and World News Roundup (1957). He was married to Suzanne St. Pierre, Belén Marshall and Lois Finger. He died on July 9, 1992 in Washington, District of ...
1987
28. Jack Benny
Actor | The Jack Benny Program
The son of a saloon keeper, Jack Benny (born Benny Kubelsky) began to study the violin at the age six, and his "ineptness" at it, would later become his trademark (in reality, he was a very accomplished player). When given the opportunity to play in live theatre professionally, Benny quit school ...
1988
29. George Burns
Actor | Oh, God!
George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen (1895-1964), and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. Following her death, Burns started appearing as a solo performer. He once won an Academy Award for Best...
1988 inductee with Gracie Allen.
30. Gracie Allen
Actress | A Damsel in Distress
Gracie Allen was born on July 26, 1895 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for A Damsel in Distress (1937), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) and The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). She was married to George Burns. She died on August 27, 1964 in ...
1988 inductee with George Burns.
31. Chet Huntley
Actor | I Cheated the Law
Chet Huntley, a native of Bozeman, Montana, worked for Movietone News and then CBS radio in Los Angeles, as well as NBC TV in Los Angeles. His big break came when he moderated NBC coverage of the 1956 political conventions, when he was paired with former UPI reporter David Brinkley. This ...
1988 inductee with David Brinkley.
32. David Brinkley
Writer | FDR
Brinkley hosted This Week with David Brinkley from 1982 until his retirement in 1997. In 1992, he won a Peabody Award for his report on the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As a news analyst, Brinkley was known for his terse, biting comments and his dry wit.
1988 inductee with Chet Huntley.
33. Red Skelton
Writer | The Red Skelton Show
The son of a former circus clown turned grocer and a cleaning woman, Red Skelton was introduced to show business at the age of seven by Ed Wynn, at a vaudeville show in Vincennes. At age 10, he left home to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest, and joined the vaudeville circuit at age 15....
1988
34. David Susskind
Producer | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
David Susskind was born on December 19, 1920 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Ages of Man (1966). He was married to Joyce Davidson and Phyllis Briskin. He died on February 22, 1987 in New...
1988
35. David L. Wolper
Producer | L.A. Confidential
David L. Wolper was born on January 11, 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for L.A. Confidential (1997), Murder in the First (1995) and The Race for Space (1959). He was married to Gloria Hill, Dawn Richard and Toni Carroll. He died on August 10, 2010 in ...
1988
36. Roone Arledge
Producer | ABC's Wide World of Sports
Roone Arledge was born on July 8, 1931 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961), NFL Monday Night Football (1970) and 19th Summer Olympic Games (1968). He was married to Gigi Shaw, Ann Fowler and Joan Heise. He died on December 5, ...
1989
37. Fred Astaire
Actor | The Towering Inferno
Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. ...
1989
38. Perry Como
Soundtrack | The Perry Como Show
In a singing (and sometimes acting) career that spanned over six decades, the name Perry Como has come to mean that warm, smooth, easy-listening, general-audience, slow-flame romance that characterized popular music in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. It has also come to represent an overall good feeling....
1989
39. Joan Ganz Cooney
Writer | Sesame Street
Joan Ganz Cooney was born on November 30, 1929 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Sesame Street (1969), Sesame Street and The Electric Company (2006). She was previously married to Peter G. Peterson and Timothy Jeffries Cooney.
1989
40. Don Hewitt
Producer | 60 Minutes
Don Hewitt was born on December 14, 1922 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for 60 Minutes (1968), Who's Who (1977) and Douglas Edwards with the News (1948). He was married to Marilyn Berger, Frankie Hewitt and Mary Weaver. He died on August 19, 2009 in ...
1989
41. Carroll O'Connor
Actor | All in the Family
Carroll was born in Manhattan and raised in Forest Hills, a heavily Jewish community in New York City's borough of Queens. After graduating from high school in 1942, O'Connor joined the Merchant Marines and worked on ships in the Atlantic. In 1946, he enrolled at the University of Montana to study ...
1989
42. Barbara Walters
Producer | The Barbara Walters Special
Barbara Walters was born on September 25, 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was a producer and writer, known for The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1976), The View (1997) and 20/20 (1978). She was married to Merv Adelson, Lee Guber and Robert Henry Katz. She died on December 30, 2022 in ...
1989
43. Desi Arnaz
Producer | I Love Lucy
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was born in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917. His father was the mayor of Santiago. The 1933 revolution led by Fulgencio Batista had landed his father in jail and stripped the family of its wealth, property and power. His father was released because of the ...
1990
44. Leonard Bernstein
Soundtrack | New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts
Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, ...
1990
45. James Garner
Actor | The Notebook
Amiable and handsome James Garner had obtained success in both films and television, often playing variations of the charming anti-hero/con-man persona he first developed in Maverick, the offbeat western TV series that shot him to stardom in the late 1950s.
James Garner was born James Scott ...
1990
46. Danny Thomas
Actor | Make Room for Daddy
Known primarily as a TV actor, he starred as a nightclub singer on the popular The Danny Thomas Show (1953).
He also served TV behind the cameras partnering with Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Spelling to create such shows as Dick Van Dyke's show, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), The Andy Griffith Show (...
1990
47. Mike Wallace
Self | 60 Minutes
Mike Wallace was born on May 9, 1918 in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for 60 Minutes (1968), The Sword and the Dragon (1956) and The Big Surprise (1955). He was married to Mary Yates, Lorraine Perigord, Buff Cobb and Norma Kaphan. He died on April 7, 2012 in New ...
1990
48. Bill Cosby
Actor | The Cosby Show
Bill Cosby is one of the world's most well-known entertainers and comedians. William Henry Cosby, Jr. was born on July 12, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Anna Pearl (Hite), a maid and William Henry Cosby, Sr., a U.S. Navy sailor. After 10th grade, Cosby joined the Navy and completed high ...
1991
49. Andy Griffith
Actor | The Andy Griffith Show
Andy Griffith is best known for his starring roles in two very popular television series, The Andy Griffith Show (1960) and Matlock (1986). Griffith earned a degree in music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the 1950s, he became a regular on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) and ...
1991
50. Ted Koppel
Producer | Koppel on Discovery
Ted Koppel was born on February 8, 1940 in Lancashire, England, UK. He is a producer and writer, known for Koppel on Discovery (2006), ABC News Nightline (1980) and CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979). He has been married to Grace Anne Koppel since May 17, 1963. They have four children.
1991
51. Sheldon Leonard
Producer | Make Room for Daddy
Sheldon Leonard was born in New York City's lower Manhattan, the son of Jewish parents. He studied acting at Syracuse University and, after graduating, landed a job on Wall Street. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, he found himself unemployed and resolved to become a professional actor on ...
1991
52. Dinah Shore
Soundtrack | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Her real name was Frances "Fanny" Rose Shore, and she was born in Winchester, Tennessee. Stricken with polio at 18 months of age, she recovered after receiving the Sister Kenny treatment. She became a cheerleader at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt ...
1991
54. John Chancellor
Self | Baseball
John Chancellor was born on July 14, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Baseball (1994), Coffee And (1951) and The Huntley-Brinkley Report (1956). He was married to Barbara Upshaw and Constance Herbert. He died on July 12, 1996 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
1992
55. Dick Clark
Actor | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Dick Clark was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York on November 30, 1929, to Julia Fuller (Barnard) and Richard Augustus Clark. He had one older brother, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. At the age of 16, Clark got his first job in the mailroom of WRUN, a radio station in Utica, New ...
56. Phil Donahue
Producer | Body of War
Phil Donahue is an American media personality, writer, film producer, and the creator and host of Donahue (1967). His television program, later known as Donahue, was the first talk show format that included audience participation. The show had a 29-year run on national television in America that ...
1992
57. Mark Goodson
Writer | Family Feud
Mark Goodson was born on January 14, 1915 in Sacramento, California, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Family Feud (1976), Tattletales (1974) and Password (1973). He was married to Suzanne Russell Waddell, Virginia McDavid and Bluma Neveleff. He died on December 18, 1992 in Los Angeles, ...
1992
58. Bob Newhart
Actor | Elf
Bob Newhart is an American actor and stand-up comedian. His comedic style involves deadpan delivery of dialogue, a slight stammer when talking, and comedic monologues. He has cited earlier comedians George Gobel (1919-1991), Ray Goulding (1922-1990), and Bob Elliott (1923-2016) as his main ...
1992
59. Agnes Nixon
Writer | All My Children
Agnes Nixon was born on December 10, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was a writer and producer, known for All My Children (1970), One Life to Live (1968) and Loving (1983). She was married to Robert Henry Adolphus Nixon. She died on September 28, 2016 in Pennsylvania, USA.
1992
60. Jack Webb
Writer | Dragnet
John Randolph Webb was born in Santa Monica, California, to Margaret (Smith) and Samuel Chester Webb. His father left home before he was born; Webb would never know him. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother in dire poverty that preceded the Depression. Making things worse, Webb ...
1992
61. Alan Alda
Actor | M*A*S*H
Alan Alda (born under the name Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo) is an American actor, comedian, film director, and screenwriter from New York City. His father was the Italian-American actor Robert Alda. Alda's best known role was playing chief surgeon Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the ...
1994
62. Howard Cosell
Self | Bananas
When you think of the words honesty, straight from the shoulder, and tell it like it is, you think of one man: Howard Cosell. Howard is best remembered as the greatest sportscaster in the history of sports. His way with words and ability of telling like it was, brought him fame not only in America,...
1994
63. Barry Diller
Producer | Top Five
Barry Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and the Chairman and Senior Executive of Expedia Group. From 1995 to late 2010, Mr. Diller served as the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of IAC. Since December 1992, beginning with QVC, Mr. Diller has served as chief executive for a ...
1994
64. Fred W. Friendly
Producer | CBS Reports
Fred W. Friendly was born on October 30, 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and editor, known for CBS Reports (1959), General Electric Theater (1953) and Montgomery Speaks His Mind (1959). He was married to Ruth Weiss Mark and Dorothy Greene. He died on March 3, 1998 in New ...
1994
65. William Hanna
Producer | ABC Afterschool Specials
William Hanna was an animator, film director, and television producer. He was the co-founder of the company Hanna-Barbera, with his longtime partner Joseph Barbera.
Hanna was born in an Irish-American family, son of William John Hanna (1873-1949) and his wife Avice Joyce Denby. He was born in ...
1994 inductee with Joseph Barbera.
66. Joseph Barbera
Producer | ABC Afterschool Specials
Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator, film director, and television producer. He was the co-founder of the company Hanna-Barbera, with his longtime partner William Hanna.
Barbera was born in an Italian-American family. His parents were barbershop-owner Vincent Barbera (1889-1965) and ...
1994 inductee with William Hanna.
67. Oprah Winfrey
Producer | The Oprah Winfrey Show
Oprah Gail Winfrey , often known simply as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ...
1994
68. Michael Landon
Actor | Little House on the Prairie
Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on Saturday, October 31st, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.
When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, ...
1995
69. Richard Levinson
Writer | Columbo
Richard Levinson was born on August 7, 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Columbo (1971), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Rehearsal for Murder (1982). He was married to Rosanna Huffman. He died on March 12, 1987 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
1995 inductee with William Link.
70. William Link
Writer | Columbo
William Link was born on December 15, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Columbo (1971), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Rehearsal for Murder (1982). He was married to Margery Nelson. He died on December 27, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1995 inductee with Richard Levinson.
71. Jim McKay
Self | ABC's Wide World of Sports
Jim McKay was born on September 24, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961), Miracle (2004) and The Verdict Is Yours (1958). He was married to Margaret Dempsey. He died on June 7, 2008 in Monkton, Maryland, USA.
1995
72. Bill Moyers
Writer | Bill Moyers' Journal
Bill Moyers was born on June 5, 1934 in Hugo, Oklahoma, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Bill Moyers' Journal (1972), Creativity with Bill Moyers (1982) and Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report (2001). He has been married to Judith Davidson Moyers since December 18, 1954. They have three ...
1995
73. Dick Van Dyke
Actor | Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke was born Richard Wayne Van Dyke in West Plains, Missouri, to Hazel Victoria (McCord), a stenographer, and Loren Wayne Van Dyke, a salesman. His younger brother was entertainer Jerry Van Dyke. His ancestry includes English, Dutch, Scottish, German and Swiss-German. Although he had ...
1995
74. Betty White
Actress | The Proposal
Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Christine Tess (Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, a lighting company executive for the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company. She was of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent.
Although she was best known as the devious Sue Ann Nivens on the ...
1995
75. Edward Asner
Actor | Up
Edward Asner was born of Russian Jewish parentage in Kansas City, to Morris David Asner (founder and owner of the Kansas City-based Asner Iron & Metal Company) and his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Seliger). After attending college, Ed worked various jobs, including in a steel mill, as a door-to-door ...
1996
76. Steven Bochco
Writer | Hill Street Blues
Attended Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) as a playwriting major. Barbara Bosson (his second wife), Michael Tucker, Bruce Weitz and Charles Haid were classmates; he and Tucker drove cross-country to Hollywood for full-time jobs at Universal, where Bochco would remain for 12 years.
In ...
1996
77. Marcy Carsey
Producer | The Cosby Show
Marcy Carsey was born on November 21, 1944 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, USA. She is a producer and executive, known for The Cosby Show (1984), Roseanne (1988) and Let's Go to Prison (2006). She was previously married to John Jay Carsey.
1996 inductee with Tom Werner.
78. Tom Werner
Producer | The Cosby Show
Tom Werner was born on April 12, 1950 in New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for The Cosby Show (1984), Let's Go to Prison (2006) and 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996). He has been married to Jennifer Ashton since November 5, 2022. He was previously married to Jill Troy Werner.
1996 inductee with Marcy Carsey.
79. Charles Kuralt
Writer | CBS News Sunday Morning
Charles Kuralt was born on September 10, 1934 in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979), CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1962) and Gauguin in Tahiti: The Search for Paradise (1967). He was married to Suzannah ...
1996
80. Angela Lansbury
Actress | The Manchurian Candidate
Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...
1996
81. Aaron Spelling
Producer | Charlie's Angels
Aaron Spelling graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before that, he attended Forest Avenue High. He started as a writer and sold his first script to Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955). He wrote for various television shows, ...
1996
82. Lew Wasserman
Self | AFI Life Achievement Award
Lew Wasserman was born on March 22, 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was married to Edie Wasserman. He died on June 3, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
1996
83. James L. Brooks
Writer | Broadcast News
James L. Brooks was born on May 9, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Broadcast News (1987), As Good as It Gets (1997) and Terms of Endearment (1983). He was previously married to Holly Holmberg Brooks and Marianne Catherine Morrissey.
1997
84. Garry Marshall
Actor | A League of Their Own
Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 - July 19, 2016) was an American actor and filmmaker. He started his career in the 1960s writing for The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple for television in 1970. He gained fame for creating Happy ...
1997
85. Quinn Martin
Producer | The Fugitive
During the early 1970s QM Productions through its owner Quinn Martin dominated the action adventure television series genre. At one time QM produced more hours of network television programs per week than any other independent production company. Perhaps one of Martin's most lasting contributions ...
1997
86. Diane Sawyer
Self | ABC Evening News
Diane Sawyer was born on December 22, 1945 in Glasgow, Kentucky, USA. She is a writer and actress, known for ABC World News Tonight with David Muir (1953), 20/20 (1978) and Primetime (1989). She was previously married to Mike Nichols.
1997
87. Grant Tinker
Producer | Going Places
Grant Tinker was born on January 11, 1926 in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. He was a producer, known for Going Places (1973), The Lily Tomlin Special (1975) and Great Television Moments: What We Watched (1993). He was married to Brooke Knapp, Mary Tyler Moore and Ruth Prince Byerly. He died on ...
1997
88. Herbert Brodkin
Producer | Holocaust
Herbert Brodkin was born on November 9, 1912 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and set decorator, known for Holocaust (1978), The Alcoa Hour (1955) and Goodyear Playhouse (1951). He was married to Patricia M. Brodkin. He died on October 29, 1990 in New York City, New York, USA.
1999: producer.
89. Robert MacNeil
Actor | Hamlet
Robert MacNeil was born on January 19, 1931 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a writer and actor, known for Hamlet (2000), PBS NewsHour (1975) and The Story of English (1986). He was married to Donna Joy Nappi, Jane Jacobsen Doherty and Rosemarie Anne Copland. He died on April 12, 2024 in ...
1999 inductee with Jim Lehrer.
90. Jim Lehrer
Actor | Zoolander 2
Jim Lehrer was born on May 19, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Zoolander 2 (2016), PBS NewsHour (1975) and Viva Max (1969). He was married to Kate Tom Staples. He died on January 23, 2020 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
1999 inductee with Robert MacNeil.
91. Lorne Michaels
Producer | Saturday Night Live
Lorne Michaels was born on November 17, 1944 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a producer and writer, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), 30 Rock (2006) and The Kids in the Hall (1988). He has been married to Alice Barry since 1991. They have three children. He was previously married to Susan ...
1999
92. Carl Reiner
Writer | The Dick Van Dyke Show
Carl Reiner is a legend of American comedy, who achieved great success as a comic actor, a director, producer and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his album "The 2,000 Year Old Man", based on his ...
1999
93. Fred Rogers
Actor | Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Fred Rogers was the host of the popular long-running public television children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The show debuted in Pittsburgh in 1967 and was picked up by PBS the next year, becoming a staple of public TV stations around the United States. Rogers' mild manner, cardigan sweaters...
1999
94. Fred Silverman
Producer | Meatballs and Spaghetti
Fred Silverman was born in 1937, and quickly grew up into the television business. After starting out in the mail-room of ABC-TV in the late 1950s, he rose to director of program development at WGN-TV, Chicago in the early '60s. One day, he abandoned his car during a snowstorm and boarded a plane ...
1999
95. Ethel Winant
Producer | Ronin
Ethel Winant was born on August 5, 1922 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. She was a casting director and producer, known for Ronin (1998), George Wallace (1997) and World War II: When Lions Roared (1994). She was married to H.M. Wynant. She died on November 29, 2003 in West Hills, Los Angeles, ...
1999
96. Tim Conway
Actor | The Carol Burnett Show
Funny man Tim Conway was born on December 15th, 1933 in Willoughby, Ohio, to Sophia (Murgoiu) and Daniel Conway, a pony groomer. He was a fraternity man at Bowling Green State University, served in the army, and started his career working for a radio station.
Conway got into comedy when he started ...
2002 inductee with Harvey Korman.
97. Harvey Korman
Actor | Blazing Saddles
Harvey Korman was a lanky, popular TV comedy veteran with a flair for broad comic characterizations, who shone for a decade as leading man and second banana par excellence on The Carol Burnett Show (1967).
Harvey Herschel Korman was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ellen (Blecher) and Cyril Raymond ...
2002 inductee with Tim Conway.
98. John Frankenheimer
Director | The Manchurian Candidate
Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he ...
2002
99. Bob Mackie
Costume_designer | The Carol Burnett Show
Bob Mackie was born on March 24, 1939 in Monterey Park, California, USA. He is a costume designer and actor, known for The Carol Burnett Show (1967), Rocketman (2019) and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971). He was previously married to Lulu Porter.
2002
100. Jean Stapleton
Actress | All in the Family
Jean Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in Manhattan, New York City, to Marie A. (Stapleton), an opera singer, and Joseph Edward Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. Her paternal grandparents were Irish. She was a cousin of actress Betty Jane Watson. Other relatives in show business were her ...
2002
Tell Your Friends