Don Hewitt: TV's Golden Boy
60 Minutes Executive Producer Don Hewitt celebrated his golden anniversary with CBS Tuesday night at the Museum of Radio and Television in New York City. The celebration, hosted by the museum, included a who's who list of guests.
All of the 60 Minutes correspondents (Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Lesley Stahl, and Andy Rooney) were there, along with actor Alan Alda and top CBS executives including CEO Mel Karmazin.
Marking his 30th season with 60 Minutes, Hewitt has produced and directed coverage of the world's major news events on many CBS News broadcasts throughout its history. Among the honors he has received are eight Emmy awards, two George Foster Peabody awards, and the 1980 Broadcaster of the Year award from the International Radio and Television Society.
Hewitt created 60 Minutes in 1968 and is credited with creating the news magazine format for television. His career at CBS News began in 1948, when he became an associate director of Douglas Edwards with the News. Later, he was the broadcast's producer-director for 14 years. He then became executive producer of The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
Hewitt covered the travels of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Richard M. Nixon. He produced and directed the first face-to-face television debate between Kennedy and Nixon during the 1960 presidential campaign. He also was producer-director of the coverage of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (1953).
In 1942, Hewitt began his journalism career as head copy boy for The New York Herald Tribune after attending New York University for one year. During World War II, he served as a war correspondent in the European and Pacific theaters (1943-45).
After the war and before joining CBS, Hewitt was night editor of The Associated Press, Memphis bureau (1945-46), editor of the Pelham Sun in New York State (1946-47), and was the night telephoto editor for Acme News Pictures.
Hewitt was born Dec. 14, 1922, in New York City. He is married to Marilyn Berger, a former NBC News White House correspondent and former Washington Post diplomatic correspondent.
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