'60 Minutes' Producer Don Hewitt Dies
Don Hewitt, the voluble CBS News executive producer who was the creative force behind 60 Minutes, died Wednesday morning of pancreatic cancer at his home in Bridgehampton, N.Y. He was 86.
Hewitt was one of the most influential figures in shaping television news. With Pavlovian predictability, millions of Americans have tuned in for decades to watch 60 Minutes. With a blend of exposes and interviews with top newsmakers and cultural stars, Hewitt created a television newsmagazine that reflected his own nature.
"Brash, noisy — Don was right out of The Front Page," says 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer, who worked Hewitt from 1970 until Hewitt's retirement in 2004.
"For every thousand crazy ideas he had, he had 10 brilliant ones," Safer says. "The great thing about Don was you could talk him out of the crazy ones. You could never talk him out of the brilliant ones."
Hewitt was a college dropout who served in the Merchant Marine and covered World War II as a reporter before joining CBS News in 1948. That year, Hewitt directed the first American television newscast — and went on to work with Edward R. Murrow. Hewitt also produced the seminal televised Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. And he was the first executive producer of Walter Cronkite's half-hour CBS Evening News.
Hewitt helped introduce the teleprompter, on-air captions and the template for television coverage of political conventions. He was pushed to the sidelines in the mid-1960s by new CBS News President Fred Friendly, a far less flashy figure. But while banished from producing the CBS Evening News, Hewitt devised his brightest idea of all.
"We were doing documentaries — CBS Reports, NBC White Paper, ABC Close-Up! And they were all too fussy and too important and too self-important," Hewitt once recalled. "And I said, 'You got to do what Life magazine does. You've got to put a cover with it. You got to put [in] personality.'
"Nobody was interested in the voice of the corporation; they wanted to hear the voice of real people."
That idea became 60 Minutes.
There were missteps along the way, too, notably when Hewitt held back key elements of a story about a whistle-blower from the tobacco industry after the threat of litigation. CBS's owners at the time feared legal action could stymie their proposed sale of the network. In addition, the controlling owners of CBS also owned a tobacco company, Lorillard.
"You learn with any publication or broadcast what the limits are," says former 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman, who was the lead reporter on that tobacco story. Bergman is now a professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and a contributing reporter for PBS's Frontline. In this case, Bergman says, "He made the wrong decision. And he decided to side with management."
Hewitt ultimately said he regretted his decision. And at the 60 Minutes offices in Manhattan on Wednesday, only fondness lingered, even as his colleagues acknowledged Hewitt's weaknesses along with his strengths.
Hewitt's protege and successor, Jeff Fager, says Hewitt's brashness obscured his deftness as an editor who improved just about everything he touched, including one of Fager's first pieces for 60 Minutes.
"This was a story about Poland, right after the wall came down and trying capitalism. It wasn't very good," Fager says. "I wasn't sure how he would react. But the lights came on after the screening — and he said, 'Where do you want it, kid? Right between the eyes?' "
Four decades after its creation, 60 Minutes remains the most-watched news show on television — a tribute not only to its famous correspondents, but to the profane television wizard who paced in the control room for so many years.
"He always said that 60 Minutes ruined television, because that was the moment that people realized you could make money in news," Fager recalled Wednesday. 60 Minutes spawned a host of competitors, including Dateline NBC and ABC's 20/20, though none were as successful as the original.
Hewitt said the show's success "had a very negative effect on news, because news, before that, had been a public service," Fager says. "And all of a sudden, 60 Minutes showed, it's not just money you could make — you could make big money."
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MELISSA BLOCK, host:
One of the most influential figures in TV news has died. Don Hewitt was the creative force behind "60 Minutes" on CBS News, the show's executive producer. Hewitt died this morning from pancreatic cancer at his home in Bridgehampton, New York. He was 86.
NPR's David Folkenflik has the story.
(Soundbite of ticking clock)
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: With Pavlovian predictability, millions of Americans have tuned for decades to watch "60 Minutes," whether to see the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran questioned by Mike Wallace…
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minutes")
Mr. MIKE WALLACE (Correspondent): And he calls you Imam, forgive me, his words, not mine, a lunatic.
FOLKENFLIK: Or Steve Kroft grilling the Clintons about their marriage at a pivotal moment in the 1992 presidential race.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minutes")
Ms. HILLARY CLINTON (First Lady): You know, I'm not sitting here as some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.
FOLKENFLIK: There were exposes, interviews with cultural stars. Hewitt created a television news magazine that reflected his own nature.
Mr. MORLEY SAFER (Correspondent, "60 Minutes"): Brash, noisy — Don was right out of the front page. I mean, he was a character.
FOLKENFLIK: "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer worked Hewitt from 1970 until Hewitt's retirement in 2004.
Mr. SAFER: For every thousand crazy ideas he had, he had 10 brilliant ones. The great thing about Don was you could talk him out of the crazy ones. You could never talk him out of the brilliant ones.
FOLKENFLIK: Hewitt was a college dropout who served in the Merchant Marine and covered World War II as a reporter before joining CBS News in 1948. That year, Hewitt directed the first American television newscast and went on to work with Edward R. Murrow.
Hewitt also produced the seminal televised Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. And he was the first executive producer of Walter Cronkite's half-hour "CBS Evening News." Hewitt helped introduce the teleprompter, on-air captions and the template for television coverage of political conventions. He once described his brightest idea of all to CBS's Harry Smith.
Mr. DON HEWITT (Executive Producer, "60 Minutes"): We were doing documentaries, "CBS Reports," "NBC White Paper," "ABC Close-Up!" They were all too fussy and too important and too self-important.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. HEWITT: And I said, you got to put - you got to do what Life magazine does. You got to put a cover with it. You got to put personality. You can't - nobody was interested in the voice of the corporation. They wanted to hear the voice of real people.
FOLKENFLIK: It became "60 Minutes." There were missteps, too: Hewitt held back key elements of a story about the whistleblower from the tobacco industry after the threat of litigation — a controversial decision he later regretted. Yet, at the "60 Minutes" offices today in Manhattan, there was only fondness. Hewitt's successor, Jeff Fager, reached out to the lions of the show, including Andy Rooney.
Mr. JEFF FAGER (Executive Producer, "60 Minutes"): Hi, Andy. I know. It's tough. I talked to Marilyn and to Billy.
FOLKENFLIK: Fager says Hewitt's brashness often obscured his deftness as an editor who improved just about everything he touched, including one of Fager's first pieces for "60 Minutes."
Mr. FAGER: This was a story about Poland right after the wall came down and trying capitalism. It wasn't very good. I wasn't sure how he would react. But the lights came on after the screening and he said, where do you want it, kid? Right between the eyes?
FOLKENFLIK: Four decades after its creation, "60 Minutes" remains the most watched news show on television — a tribute not only to its famous correspondents, but the profane television wizard who paced in the control room for so many years.
David Folkenflik, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
