Jessica Savitch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jessica Beth Savitch (February 1, 1947 – October 23, 1983) was a well-known American television broadcaster and news reporter, host of PBS "Frontline" and was well known for being weekend anchor of "NBC Nightly News" during the John Chancellor/David Brinkley era.


Contents

[edit] Life and career

Savitch was born in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, about thirty-five miles from Philadelphia. After her father died when she was a child, her family moved to Margate, New Jersey (a suburb of Atlantic City). She attended Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, where she worked at the campus radio and TV stations and at WBBF, an AM outlet in Rochester. After graduating in the spring of 1968, Savitch worked at various radio and TV stations, including WCBS in New York and KHOU in Houston. She then became a popular local television newscaster at KYW, the former NBC affiliate (now CBS) in Philadelphia, and a Washington correspondent for NBC News. Thanks to her screen presence and attractive style, she was eventually promoted to the news anchor of the weekend NBC Nightly News, and she also anchored Frontline on PBS. Her autobiography, Anchorwoman, was published in 1982. Savitch had a stormy ten year relationship with news director Ron Kershaw and was married twice. Her first marriage to advertising executive Mel Korn ended in divorce; her second husband, gynecologist Donald Payne, committed suicide only a few months after their wedding.[1]

On October 3, 1983 Savitch anchored a mid-evening news update called NBC News Digest, during which she was possibly under the influence of drugs. She slurred some words and skipped others entirely. Savitch had been suspected of abusing drugs in the past, and this 43-second performance, broadcast live and seen by millions of viewers across the United States, seemed to confirm those suspicions.[1][2]

[edit] Death

On Sunday, October 23, 1983, Savitch had dinner with Martin Fischbein, vice-president of the New York Post, in New Hope, Pennsylvania. After the meal at Odette's Restaurant, they began to drive home about 7:15 PM, with Fischbein behind the wheel and Savitch in the back seat with her dog, Chewy. Fischbein may have missed posted warning signs in a heavy rainfall, and he drove out of the wrong exit from the restaurant and up the towpath of the old Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division) on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River. The car veered too far to the left and went over the edge into the shallow water of the canal. After falling approximately fifteen feet and landing upside down, the station wagon sank into deep mud which sealed the doors shut. Savitch and Fischbein were trapped inside as water poured in. A local resident found the wreck at about 11:30 that night. Fischbein's body was still strapped behind the wheel, with Savitch and her dog in the rear. After the subsequent autopsies, the Bucks County coroner ruled that both had died from asphyxiation (by drowning). He noted that Fischbein was apparently knocked unconscious in the wreck but Savitch had struggled to escape. There was no finding that drugs or alcohol had played any part in the crash.[1][3]

[edit] Legacy

Savitch's estate was awarded over $8 million in a wrongful death action.[4] Some of the money was used to set up college scholarships. The Jessica Savitch Distinguished Journalism lecture series is held at her alma mater, Ithaca College.

Jessica Savitch's life was the subject of a Lifetime Television made-for-TV movie starring Sela Ward called Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story. A theatrical movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Up Close & Personal, was originally intended as a biographical film about Savitch. However, the movie became an A Star is Born-style entertainment instead, possibly because of a belief that Savitch's life was too downbeat to be popular at the box office.[5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Jessica Savitch. Internet Accuracy Project. Retrieved on 2007-03-27. Also see Almost Golden by Gwenda Blair, listed as a reference, for extensive biographical details on Savitch.
  2. ^ See Roadode.com for a video recording of the newscast. Almost Golden (p.13-31) treats the incident extensively.
  3. ^ Almost Golden (p.343-47) thoroughly discusses the accident and subsequent events.
  4. ^ Debra Cassens Moss. Savitch Settlement: $8.125 Million in Newswoman's Death. Raynes McCarty. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
  5. ^ Roger Ebert (1996-03-01). Up Close And Personal. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-27. Many other reviews of the movie at TopTenReviews.com discuss how the film departed, probably for commercial reasons, from Savitch's actual biography.

[edit] References

  • Blair, Gwenda. Almost Golden: Jessica Savitch and the Selling of Television News, Avon Books 1988 ISBN 0-380-70752-7

[edit] External links