Edwin Newman
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Edwin Newman (born January 25, 1919, New York City) is a journalist and writer.
Newman was a longtime correspondent for NBC News. Newman was a member of the network news team that announced to the nation the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Newman anchored the early hours of the network's radio coverage (radio was then a significant source of news) and informed listeners that two priests who had been with the President said that he was dead. Newman delivered an editorial on television that evening.
In 1975, Newman became the first person to interview the Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
Non-news appearances in media
Newman also served as NBC Newsbreak anchor during the summer of 1980 on David Letterman's short-lived morning show, and often participated in the show's non-news segments. For some years prior to that show, Newman anchored five-minute newscasts at various timeslots on NBC's daytime schedule in the 1960s and 1970s; these were later reduced to one-minute brief updates after 1976. In 1976, Newman was the moderator of the first presidential debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, the first such debate in 16 years.
Newman appeared in a dream sequence on The Golden Girls in an episode where Rose (Betty White) dreamt she was going to Russia. He also played a TV reporter in the movie The Pelican Brief, based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham.
He appeared in the movies Stripes, Spies Like Us, and My Fellow Americans as himself.
Newman guest-hosted Saturday Night Live in 1984, and anchored the show's Weekend Update segment on three occasions. His 1984 appearance marked his retirement as a newscaster for NBC and, to the delight of the audience, he sang the song Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone as part of his opening monologue.
Writing
Newman is the author of the book Your Public Best published by Newmarket Press. He also wrote Strictly Speaking and A Civil Tongue, well-regarded and best-selling studies of language and its abuses, and a novel, Sunday Punch.