Jane Pauley
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Margaret Jane Pauley (born October 31, 1950, in Indianapolis) is an American television news anchor and journalist.
Pauley competed in debate and public speaking tournaments while enrolled at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, and subsequently earned a scholarship to Indiana University, where she was involved in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. After college, she worked from 1972 to 1975 at WISH in Indianapolis and from 1975 to 1976 at WMAQ in Chicago; from there she joined network television.
From 1976 to 1989, she was the co-host of The Today Show. While not the first female anchor of the show, she became a symbol for professional women, more specifically female journalists, in the 1980s. She shared anchor duties with Tom Brokaw and later, Bryant Gumbel. NBC briefly experimented with a trio of anchors, Pauley, Gumbel, and Chris Wallace, before returning to a co-anchor format with Gumbel and with Pauley serving in a deferential co-host capacity.
In 1989, following months of speculation on her future, she announced her resignation from Today in favor of rising star Deborah Norville. The switch was a highly publicized incident that led to accusations of ageism from Pauley supporters, who felt it unfair that that the 39-year-old was being sidelined for the younger Norville.
Pauley remained with NBC after leaving Today, first hosting the short-lived Real Life with Jane Pauley and also serving as deputy anchor for NBC Nightly News.
She co-hosted, with Stone Phillips, Dateline NBC -- NBC's first successful prime time news magazine program ever -- from 1992 to 2003, at which time she announced her retirement. In 2004, she returned to television as host of The Jane Pauley Show, a syndicated daytime talk show. On the show, she discussed, at length, her problems in dealing with bipolar disorder.
Much like her earlier attempt at solo hosting following her Today tenure, The Jane Pauley Show never gained traction in the ratings, and was cancelled after one season. Since her talk show's cancellation, she has neither made appearances on television programs, nor announced plans to do so in the future.
Pauley is known for revealing very little, if anything at all, on her private life, which made the disclosure of her bipolar disorder all the more unusual. The timing of her announcement—which coincided with the release of her autobiography Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue (2004) and the launch of her daytime talk show—was viewed by some as a publicity ploy, though no one questioned the truthfulness of her announcement.
In October, 2006, Pauley and her lawyers filed a lawsuit against the New York Times for allegedly duping her into lending her name and likeness to an advertising supplement popular with drug companies. Pauley maintains she believed she was being interviewed by a Times reporter.
Pauley is married to cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and they have three children.
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| Preceded by: Jim Hartz and Barbara Walters |
Today Show Host with Tom Brokaw from 1976 to 1981 and Bryant Gumbel from January 6, 1982 to December 27, 1989 1976–1989 |
Succeeded by: Deborah Norville as Gumbel's co-host |
| Preceded by: None |
Dateline NBC Co-Anchor with Stone Phillips 1992–2003 |
Succeeded by: Ann Curry as Philips' co-host |
| Anchors of The Today Show |
|---|
| Garroway • Chancellor • Downs • McGee • Walters • Hartz • Brokaw • Pauley • Gumbel • Norville • Garagiola • Couric • Lauer • Vieira |
