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A Retrospective: 28 Media Leaders Who Died This Decade

The Aughts

by Danny Groner | 12:52 pm, December 4th, 2009

» 7 comments

2004

Who: Ronald Reagan
Major Accomplishment: Reagan never became a major star, but he continued to make movies and threw himself into the work of the guild. He was elected its president and re-elected five times, through some of the stormiest years in the history of the film industry.
Legacy: Professor Kenneth Lynn said in an interview: “He fulfilled a restorative function we desperately needed…To have someone speak in terms of possibility, of limitlessness rather than of limits, was an elixir, a real upper. He was the most important President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in these symbolic respects.”

Marlon_Brando

Who: Marlon Brando
Major Accomplishment: Finally, in 1954, in “On the Waterfront,” he won his first Oscar. The role of Terry Malloy, more than any other, is emblematic of the power and reach of the style of acting Brando brought to the screen. “If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film, I don’t know what it is,” said Elia Kazan, his director again.
Legacy: Jack Nicholson, who co-starred with Brando in “The Missouri Breaks” and was a friend and neighbor for many years, termed him “a genius who was the beginning and end of his own revolution.” In an interview yesterday, he said: “There’s no one before or since like Marlon Brando. The gift was enormous and flawless, like Picasso.”

julia child

Who: Julia Child
Major Accomplishment: Child was a towering figure on the culinary front for more than 40 years. Most Americans knew her as the imperturbable host of the long-running PBS television series “The French Chef.”
Legacy: In 1966 she became the first PBS personality to win an Emmy Award. When she moved from her longtime home in Cambridge to a retirement center in her home state, California, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington took her famous kitchen: whisks, stockpots and 800 knives.

>>>NEXT: We said goodbye to Johnny in 2005…

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ImNotBlue

No Farrah Fawcett? She was a media icon! That poster alone was a huge deal!

But perhaps more confusing, no Michael Jackson?

Sure we’re all sick of hearing about the coverage… but come on, if ever there was a media star, he was it. From the birth of the music video, to the television commercials, to the movies, to the wacky stuff in the later years… not to mention the music… MJ was all things media! I think he deserves to be on the list, for sure.
Jim R

Well done, Danny, a significant list indeed.
Rel E Vant

What, no Ed Bradley?

Guess it only matters if we lose white “media leaders,” huh?

And for the record, including Kate Hepburn, Bob Hope, William Hanna and Johnny Carson is totally stretching the “media” designation beyond all recognition.
ClarkKent_DC

These are “the figures who helped define, shape and set the standards in their industries” — but there’s no mention of John H. Johnson, founder of Ebony magazine? Carl T. Rowan, public servant, author and columnist? Ed Bradley, “60 Minutes” correspondent? August Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright? Not even Richard Pryor or Michael Jackson?
wdawkins

Thank you for updating the list.

Do understand that the criticism of the lack of diversity this morning was not a matter special pleading, but was based on merit. The gaping omissions spoke to credibility and authenticity of the list.

Regarding the additions, Chisholm did not win a primary, but she changed the California winner-take-all primary system in 1972.

Johnson’s Ebony/Jet had iconic journalistic moments and products: The Emmett Till casket photo in 1955, the photo of widow Coretta Scott King in 1968 and the seminal book “Before the Mayflower” by editor and popular historian Lerone Bennett Jr.
asamuels

Why is the original list still available to be found on this site without having the mea culpa added to it? Also, your description of John Johnson is unacceptable.To state that the only reason why Ebony and Jet magazines were remarkable is because of race-specific advertising is missing the point in its entirety. The Johnson magazine empire is legendary because Johnson dared do – and succeeded – where others could not. Black folks were being lynched for being able to read and write and Johnson still decided to start a magazine that uplifted black folk.

Johnson was friends with presidents. He created America’s first black magazine amidst a most dangerous time. He gave opportunity to black journalists when whites were too racist to be bothered with us. I don’t know who wrote up this description, but a simple Google search would have turned up quite a bit more. You could also have read his bio or gone to the Web site. He was not legendary because of advertising alone. He’s legendary because he put black people on magazine covers. He told the stories of black people. He helped to cement our perceptions of black beauty. Most importantly though, for the first three decades, he told our stories when no one else would.

He’s legendary because he started something big and it stuck.
Gdub

So by adding five African-Americans of note to the end of this list, we should be pleased? Are you serious? And what about other people “of color?” This was handled very, very poorly, all-around.