Sally Bedell Smith
Sarah Bedell Smith (born May 27, 1948) is an American journalist and biographer. She has been a contributing editor for "Vanity Fair" since 1996. Previously, she was a cultural news reporter for both "New York Times" and "Time." Her most notable works are the biographies of political, cultural, and business figures in the United States, and members of the British royal family. Early life and education. Sarah Rowbotham was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Ruth (Kirk) and James Howard Rowbotham, a brigadier general and businessman. She grew up in the nearby town  of St. Davids. She graduated from Radnor High School in 1966, and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in November 2008. She earned her BA from Wheaton College and her MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she was the winner of the Robert Sherwood Memorial Travel-Study Scholarship and the Women's Press Club of New York Award. Career. Smith spent her early career working as a reporter for "Time", "TV Guide", and "The New York Times", where she was a lead cultural news reporter, specializing in television. In 1996, she joined "Vanity Fair  as contributing editor. Smith's first book, Up The Tube: Prime-time TV and the Silverman Years" (1981) focused on Fred Silverman, who famously worked as an executive at all of the Big Three TV networks. Her most notable work, "Elizabeth The Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch" (2012) won the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence, and the 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for best book in history and biography. She the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award in 1982, and became a fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center in 1986. Biographies. Throughout her career, Smith has  published multiple bibliographies, three of which focus on members of the British royal family. Smith's first official biography, "In All His Glory," was published in 1990, chronicling the life of William S. Paley, former chairman of CBS. In 1996, Smith published "Reflected Glory: The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman" about Pamela Harriman, an American diplomat and socialite. Her 1999 biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, "Diana in Search of Herself" was included multiple bestsellers lists, including "The New York Times Book Review", "Washington Post", and "Wall Street Journal." 2004 saw the publication of Smith's fourth biography about John  F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, "Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House". In 2007, Smith released "For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House" about the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton. Her 2012 biography of Queen Elizabeth II, "Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch", also a "New York Times" bestseller, received the 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for Best History & Biography and the 2012 Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence. Smith served as playwright Peter Morgan's consultant on the London and New York productions of "The Audience", his  award-winning drama about Queen Elizabeth II and her prime ministers, starring Helen Mirren. Smith's biography of Charles, Prince of Wales, "Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life", was published by Random House on April 4, 2017.