Harry Reasoner was one of the most trusted and well-liked journalists of the golden age of network television news. Whether anchoring the evening newscast on CBS in the 1960s or on ABC in the 1970s, providing in-depth reporting on "60 Minutes", or hosting numerous special programs covering civil rights struggles, the Vietnam War, and Watergate, Reasoner had 'that almost mystical quality it seems to take for good television reporting, exuding this atmosphere of truth and believability', in the words of Walter Cronkite. Yet his reassuring manner and urbane, often witty, on-air persona masked a man who was far more complex and contradictory. Though gifted with the intelligence and drive to rise to the top of his profession, Reasoner was regarded by many colleagues as lazy and self-indulgent, a man who never achieved his full potential despite his many accomplishments. "Harry Reasoner: A Life in the News" covers the entire sweep of this enigmatic journalist's life and career.Douglass K. Daniel opens with Reasoner's Depression-era Midwestern upbringing and follows him through his early work in newspapers and radio before he joined CBS in 1956. Focusing on Reasoner's thirty-five-year tenure in television news, Daniel presents fascinating, behind-the-scenes accounts of Reasoner's key role in founding the top-rated newsmagazine "60 Minutes". He also explores Reasoner's highly publicized move to ABC in 1970, where he anchored the nightly newscast, first with Howard K. Smith and later with Barbara Walters - a disastrous pairing from which Reasoner's career never fully recovered. Based on scores of interviews and unpublished letters, memos, and other primary sources, this first biography of the man once rated second in credibility only to Walter Cronkite illuminates an entire era in broadcast journalism, as well as many of the unique personalities, from Andy Rooney to Mike Wallace, who made that era distinctive.
My latest book, "Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks," available now from amazon.com, combines two of my lifelong interests: writing and film. (Check out the Facebook page 'Tough as Nails Richard Brooks.')It's my second biography -- actually, my third, if you count the fictional TV character Lou Grant from the series of that name. I also wrote a biography, published in 2007, of "60 Minutes" correspondent Harry Reasoner.
That would make an interesting threesome to meet over lunch: Lou Grant, the tough but lovable city editor; Harry Reasoner, the exceedingly smart and witty writer and broadcaster; and Richard Brooks, himself once a reporter and later a novelist and screenwriter who turned to directing. I doubt I could get in a word -- and probably wouldn't want to do much but listen anyway.
Richard Brooks -- "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Elmer Gantry" and "In Cold Blood" are among his two dozen films -- was a great subject for a biography. First of all, no one has written about his life until now. I interviewed nearly forty people who knew him, worked in his films, loved him and at times hated the guy. I also reviewed his papers, at the motion picture academy archive, and files from MGM, 20th Century-Fox and other studios. Mr. Brooks lived according to his rules -- and his rules included decency and truth but also toughness and hard work.
Putting together the puzzle that was Richard Brooks' life challenged me as a writer and as a researcher. I've been writing since I attended journalism school at Kansas State University and worked on the K-State Collegian. In the years since, I have worked mainly for The Associated Press as a writer and editor. For several years I taught journalism at Kansas State and my other alma mater, Ohio University. Today, I'm back with the AP, in the Washington bureau.
Writing more than the day's news allows me a chance to be creative. I suppose nonfiction sets up familiar boundaries -- facts, you could call them -- and gives me a direction to follow. I admire novelists for their ability to create a world that can operate according to their imaginations. But nonfiction has its creative elements, too, and I am trying to master them.
