Midgley, Leslie

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Broadcast journalist.

From the description of Reminiscences of Leslie Midgley: oral history, 1988. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309744696

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Leslie Les Midgley (1915-2002) was the son of J. George Midgley (1887-1979) and grandson of the seventh Mormon Church president Heber J. Grant. He began his journalism career in 1935, working as a police reporter for the Deseret News . In 1940, Midgley settled in New York City as a reporter for the New York Herald-Tribune, leaving in 1950. Following several years as an editor for Look magazine and Collier’s Weekly, he shifted into television as a producer for CBS News. In 1954, Midgley wrote a morning program, entitled F.Y.I., with Andy Rooney and then produced a half-hour news show with Eric Sevareid.

Next, Midgley produced specials on international events, before becoming executive producer of CBS’s Eyewitness to History in 1959. The show was cancelled four years later, and he became produced for The Evening News with Walter Cronkite. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Midgley controlled the continuous on-air reportage following the assassination through Kennedy’s burial. In 1972, Midgley left The Evening News to work on documentary specials and became head of CBS’s Special Reports Unit. After his retirement from CBS in 1980, Midgley joined NBS News as vice president for special programs, leaving a few years later in order to teach.

During his years in the television news industry, Midgley continued to write editorials and research articles for newspapers, magazines, and journals. In 1989, he published an autobiography, How Many Words Do You Want?: An Insider’s Story of Print and Television Journalism . Midgley married Jean Burke (d. 1965), with whom he had three children: Leslie Midgley, Jr., Andrea Connors, and Peter Midgley. In 1967, he married actress and consumer advocate Betty Furness (1916-1994).

Source:

Oliver, Myrna. Leslie Midgley, 87; Developed TV Specials on Breaking News. Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/29/local/me-midgley29 (accessed September 13, 2010).

From the guide to the Midgley, Les, papers 2005-229., 1936-2002, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Charles Kuralt Collection, 1935-1997 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
creatorOf Midgley, Les, papers 2005-229., 1936-2002 Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
creatorOf Midgley, Leslie, 1914-. Reminiscences of Leslie Midgley: oral history, 1988. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
referencedIn John Mason Brown papers, 1922-1967. Houghton Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Bartone, Richard, person
correspondedWith Brown, John Mason, 1900-1969 person
associatedWith CBS News corporateBody
associatedWith Columbia Broadcasting System, inc. corporateBody
associatedWith Cronkite, Walter person
associatedWith Kuralt, Charles, 1934-1997 person
associatedWith Midgley, Leslie person
associatedWith NBC News corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Broadcast journalism
Editors
Journalism
Journalists
Journalists
Television
Television and politics
Television broadcasting of news
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1915

Death 2002

Information

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