Walter Cronkite(1916-2009)

Actor
Editorial Department
Producer

It's Thanksgiving Day, 1970, the Atlantic Ocean. A US patrol boat meets a Soviet fishing vessel. A Soviet sailor jumps across the icy water onto the American boat in a frantic bid for freedom. To his horror, and to the outcry of the world media, the Americans return him to the Soviets. Through rare archival footage and a dramatic, first-person re-enactment by the would-be defector, 86-year-old Simas Kudirka, we relive one of the most unpredictable Cold War muddles.

Play trailer1:44

The Jump (2020)

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 signed up with CBS News in 1962 and retired in 1981. Cronkite remained active throughout retirement. He died on July 17, 2009 in New York City. He was 92 years old.

IMDbProStarmeter See rank

Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 12 wins & 10 nominations total

Photos39

Walter Cronkite and Ronald DeFeo in Amityville: An Origin Story (2023)

Walter Cronkite and John J. McCloy in JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (2021)

Walter Cronkite in American Experience (1987)

Kevin Bacon and Walter Cronkite in Apollo 13 (1995)

Walter Cronkite in CBS News Extra: Project Mercury flight of Frienship 7 (1962)

Known for

Liberty's Kids

7.9

TV Series

Benjamin Franklin(voice)

Cronkite Remembers

8.4

TV Mini Series

Producer

1997

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

8.2

TV Series

Walter Cronkite

The Twentieth Century

8.1

TV Series

Narrator
Self - Host
Self - Narrator
Self - Reporter
Self - Host and Narrator
Narrator (voice)

Credits

Edit

IMDbPro

Actor

21 and a Wake-Up
- Narration
- 2009
Liberty's Kids
- Benjamin Franklin (voice)
- TV Series
- 2002–2003
Murphy Brown
- Walter Cronkite
- TV Series
- 1989–1997
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
- Captain Neweyes (voice)
- 1993
Spaceship Earth
- 2nd Edition Narrator - 1986-1994 (voice)
- Short
- 1982
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Walter Cronkite
- TV Series
- 1974
Armstrong Circle Theatre
- Narrator
- TV Series
- 1959
You Are There
- Narrator
- Narrated by
- Host
- TV Series
- 1954–1956

Editorial Department

Producer

In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

Edit

Height
- 5′ 11½″ (1.82 m)
Born
- November 4, 1916
- St. Joseph, Missouri, USA
Died
- July 17, 2009
- Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA(cerebrovascular disease)
Spouse
- Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" MaxwellMarch 27, 1940 - March 16, 2005 (her death, 3 children)
Other works
Narration for Spaceship Earth ride at EPCOT Center, Walt Disney World; used until 1994.
Publicity listings

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
In 1969 when Apollo XI was going to the Moon, Cronkite was on the air 27 of the 30 hours that it took for the flight, which many in the profession called "Walter to Walter" coverage. At the moment that Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the Lunar Module onto the Moon surface, Cronkite was speechless for the first time in his career. All he could say was "Wow!" and "Oh Boy!". Famous words that will live in history.

Quotes
It is increasingly clear that the only rational way out will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honorable people who lived up to the pledge to defend democracy." (Cronkite's famous quote after the disastrous North Vietnamese Tet Offensive, which many say was the turning point in the Vietnam Conflict. President Lyndon Johnson, upon hearing Cronkite pull his support for further military involvement, is quoted as saying, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America.