Diane Sawyer
| Diane Sawyer | ||
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| Born | Lila Diane Sawyer December 22, 1945 Glasgow, Kentucky, U.S. |
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| Occupation | Television Personality | |
| Spouse | Mike Nichols | |
| Salary | $12–15 million | |
| Notable credit(s) | CBS Morning News anchor (1981–1984)
60 Minutes correspondent (1984–1989) Primetime Live anchor (1989–Present) Good Morning America anchor (1999–Present) |
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| Official website | ||
Lila Diane Sawyer (born December 22, 1945) is an American television reporter for ABC and co-anchor of its morning news show, Good Morning America. In 2001 she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. In 2007 she ranked 62nd on Forbes' "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" list.
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Sawyer was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, the daughter of Jean W. (née Dunagan), an elementary school teacher, and Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, a judge [1]. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville, where her father rose to local prominence as a politician and community leader; he was the Republican Jefferson County Judge/Executive when he was killed in a car accident on Louisville's Interstate 64 in 1969 while still in office. E. P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, located in the Frey's Hill area of Louisville, is named in his honor.
Sawyer attended Seneca High School in the Buechel area of Louisville. In 1963, she won the "America's Junior Miss" scholarship pageant as a representative from the State of Kentucky, and in 1967, she received a degree in English from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
She attended one semester of law school at the University of Louisville before turning to journalism.
Since 29 April 1988 she has been married to award winning director Mike Nichols. They have no children. Nichols has Daisy (1964), Max (1964), and Jenny (1977) from his three previous marriages.
Sawyer served as a local TV news reporter and "weather girl" for WLKY-TV in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1970, White House press secretary Ron Ziegler hired her to serve in the administration of President Richard Nixon. Sawyer stayed on through his resignation in 1974 and worked on the Nixon-Ford transition team in 1975, after which she decamped with Nixon to California and helped him write his memoirs. Years later, Sawyer would be suspected as the source of leaks of classified information (nicknamed "Deep Throat") to Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal. However, she was one of six people to request and receive a public denial from Woodward.[2]
In 1978, Sawyer joined CBS as a political correspondent and became a co-anchor, with Bill Kurtis, of the CBS Morning News in 1981. In 1984, she became a correspondent for 60 Minutes, where she remained for five years.
In 1989, she moved to ABC to co-anchor Primetime Live with Sam Donaldson. From 1998-2000, she would become a co-anchor for ABC's 20/20, co-anchoring on Wednesdays with Sam and on Sundays with Barbara Walters.
In 1999, Sawyer returned to morning news, under a lucrative contract, as the co-anchor of Good Morning America, with Charles Gibson. The assignment was putatively temporary, but her success in the position, measured by a close in the gap with front-runner The Today Show, has kept her in the position far longer than anticipated.
- 1984–1989: 60 Minutes correspondent[3][4]
- February 1989–1998, 2000–present: Primetime Live co-anchor[3][4]
- 1998–2000: 20/20 co-anchor[4]
- January 1999–present: Good Morning America co-anchor[3]
- 1999–2000: ABC 2000 Today[4]
- Sawyer and segment producer Robbie Gordon received the 2004 George Polk Award for Television Reporting, given annually by Long Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting,[5] for “Fighting for Care,” an exposé on the disgraceful conditions, inadequate care and gross mismanagement that have persisted for years in Veterans Administration hospitals around the country. The report prompted hospital inspections as well as new supervision and training efforts.
- Sawyer is a member of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations).
- Sawyer is a former board member of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization which attempts to allieviate problems caused by poverty in New York City, New York.
Sawyer has interviewed many important political figures, such as current U.S. President George W. Bush, former U.S. President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton— first interview after the former's 1992 election to the U.S. Presidency,[3] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad— February 12, 2007, one of the first interviews granted to an American, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), First Female Speaker of the House, former Cuban President Fidel Castro, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, U.S. Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, and former Panamanian General Manuel Noriega. She also got to do a special tour of North Korea.
From the entertainment world, Sawyer has interviewed singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson, actor Michael J. Fox, comedienne Ellen DeGeneres (after her coming-out), the Dixie Chicks, Britney Spears, Clay Aiken (twice), and actor Mel Gibson.
Sawyer has also interviewed infamous murderers Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten (in 1994) and Susan Atkins (in 2002).
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Diane Sawyer |
- Diane Sawyer at the Internet Movie Database
- Transcript of Peabody Award-winning "Primetime Live" story, "Some Veterans' Hospitals in Shocking Shape: Disturbing Revelations About Quality of Care at Some U.S. Veterans’ Hospitals"
| Preceded by Kevin Newman and Lisa McRee |
Good Morning America co-anchor 1999–present with Charles Gibson (from January 18, 1999 to June 28, 2006), and Robin Roberts starting in 2005 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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