Don Hewitt, Television news pioneer, Dead at 86...

Donald Shepard Hewitt
(December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009)




Don Hewitt was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS news magazine in 1968, currently the longest-running prime time broadcast on American television.

Born in 1922 in New York, Hewitt started his career in newspapers. "His picture experience prompted a friend in 1948 to tell him about television, where CBS News had a job opening," according to a CBS statement. He told reporters years later his response was: "Whatavision?"

He directed the first television network newscast on May 3, 1948, featuring Douglas Edwards, the network said. In 1960, he was named executive producer of "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite," a position he held for five years. In 1963, the Cronkite broadcast became the first to go to a half-hour format.

Hewitt's innovations included the use of cue cards for news readers -- an early version of the electronic teleprompter that is used today, CBS said. In addition, he was the first to use "supers" -- captions and other written information superimposed on the lower third of the television screen. And he was the first to use the film "double" -- cutting back and forth between projectors.

Hewitt also produced and directed coverage for the three main television networks for the first-ever televised presidential debate in 1960 between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer of 60 Minutes in 2004 at 81. He is an eight-time Emmy Award winner. Hewitt is the author of Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television, in which he chronicles his life as a newsman. He is also the author of the book Minute by Minute, a look at the history of 60 Minutes. On April 3, 2008, Hewitt was honored with Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism.

Hewitt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2009. He died at his home in Bridgehampton, New York, surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Marilyn Berger, and four children.

RIP

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