A New 'Good Evening' For 'Masterpiece Theater' - NYTimes.com A New 'Good Evening' For 'Masterpiece Theater' By ELIZABETH KOLBERT Correction Appended It's a tough chair to fill, but someone's got to sit in it. Three months after Alistair Cooke ever so politely bade goodbye to "Masterpiece Theater," the show's sponsors announced yesterday that Russell Baker would become the program's new host. At a news conference in the "library" of the Palace Hotel in Manhattan, Mr. Baker, surrounded by fake books, assured reporters that he would not allow his irreverent style to impinge on the highbrow tone of "Masterpiece Theater." In the case of an episode that is "egregiously ridiculous," though, he acknowledged, "a little needle might be apropos." Mr. Baker, who is 67 and a New York Times columnist, said he had first been approached about taking Mr. Cooke's place almost a year ago. He demurred. "My reply was I'd like to be the man who succeeds the man who succeeds Alistair Cooke," he said. But several months went by, and Mr.

Baker's self-esteem improved to the point where, he said, "I thought, 'Why not give it a try?' " He added that is was particularly influenced by his daughter, Kasia, who urged him to get out of his "rut," and by a desire to fulfill his destiny as a citizen: "In America, if you're not on television, somehow you're not American," he said. Hundreds Were Considered Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of "Masterpiece Theater," said Mr. Baker had been chosen from among hundreds of actors, journalists, historians and aristocrats who had been considered for the job, and dozens more who had sent in unsolicited tapes. "We knew it when we found it," she said of Mr. Baker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of more than a dozen books. In spite of his new duties as host, which he is to assume in the fall, Mr. Baker will continue to write his "Observer" column for The Times. Mr. Baker will be only the second regular host of "Masterpiece Theater," the nation's longest-running prime-time drama series. Mr.

Cooke, who held the position since the show's inception in 1971, announced his retirement in July. Since he left the show in November, guest hosts have filled in. Mr. Cooke and his genteel English manner became so closely identified with "Masterpiece Theater" that the news of his American successor yesterday seemed to suggest not so much a passing of the torch as a passing of an era. Mr. Baker took pains, however, to reassure reporters that he enjoyed the kind of long, rambling 19th-century novels favored by "Masterpiece Theater's" producers, and that in any case he did not plan to have any influence on the content of show. But he said, "I certainly hope we'll do Proust's 'Remembrance of Things Past.' " "Masterpiece Theatre" is sponsored by the Mobil Corporation and presented by WGBH, the public television station in Boston. The programs in the series are usually purchased from British producers. A Longtime Fan Mr. Baker, who lives in Virginia, said he was a fan of "Masterpiece Theater," and had watched most of the shows.

He listed among his favorites "The Golden Bowl," "Jeeves and Wooster" and "Memento Mori." Under closer questioning, he also acknowledged that he was a fan of the afternoon soap opera "All My Children." As interpreted by Mr. Cooke, the duties of the host were to introduce the show and offer a few closing comments. Mr. Baker said viewers should not expect radical changes. "It's a mistake to make brave assertions about how original you're going to be," he said. Mr. Baker said he was succeeding Mr. Cooke in a spirit of humility: "You enter, as George Bush would say, in a prayer mode." Photo: Russell Baker will be only the second regular host of the popular "Masterpiece Theater." (Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times) Correction: February 25, 1993, Thursday A front-page picture caption in The Living Section yesterday, with a cross reference to an article about Russell Baker's selection as host of "Masterpiece Theater," omitted the identity of the girl with Mr. Baker. She was his granddaughter Laura Baker.

wned: : 'Masterpiece Theatre' Host Alistair Cooke Dies at 95 (2004-03-31) TV 'Masterpiece Theatre' Host Alistair Cooke Dies at 95 Alistair Cooke, 95, the ultra-civilized, silver-haired British broadcaster best known to American audiences as the host of "Masterpiece Theatre," died March 30 at his home in New York. by Adam Bernstein Alistair Cooke, 95, the ultra-civilized, silver-haired British broadcaster best known to American audiences as the host of "Masterpiece Theatre," died March 30 at his home in New York. He had heart disease, an ailment that recently led him to leave his 58-year career hosting the weekly "Letter from America" radio series for the British Broadcasting Corp. In many ways a traditional Englishman -- the rich, clipped voice; the dry, WASPish wit; the dapper, avuncular appearance -- Mr. Cooke had an insatiable appetite for American culture. He was not condescending in his radio reports and instead found fun ways to explain what he considered the "vitality" of American literature, politics and daily life.

His longevity and sterling public reputation brought him wide recognition in popular culture. He sometimes was lampooned, notably on "Sesame Street," where the Cookie Monster puppet became the erudite Alistair Cookie of "Monsterpiece Theatre." To many, Mr. Cooke was an American institution. "He has defined what public television was and is for so many people that it is difficult to imagine life without him," Christopher Sarson, the original executive producer of "Masterpiece Theatre," once said. That series, for which Mr. Cooke acted as master of ceremonies from 1971 to 1992, was an English drama import that ran on public television. He wrote insightful and amusing introductions to the program's featured adaptations, notably "Upstairs Downstairs," "I, Claudius" and "The Jewel in the Crown." For the latter show, he told audiences, "As empires go," the British empire was "a wink in the eye of history." Because of his work on "Masterpiece Theatre," he received a 1975 Emmy Award for special classification of outstanding program. It was one of several top industry awards he received. Mr.

Cooke became a familiar fixture to American audiences in the 1950s as host of the network television program "Omnibus," a much-honored show that aired news documentaries and literary adaptations. He narrated the BBC-produced series "America: A Personal History of the United States" in 1972 and 1973. The program, a wise and witty exploration of American culture and history, won four Emmy Awards and provided the basis for his best-selling written account, "Alistair Cooke's America" (1973). "Letter from America," his BBC radio program, was supposed to last 13 weeks when it debuted in 1946 to give English listeners a reprieve from wartime news. Instead, it continued almost until Mr. Cooke's death. He gave lively accounts of daily living. Mr. Cooke once described his radio program this way: "Just about American children or the history of ice cream or why the maples go scarlet in the fall and the oaks go yellow. Anything, all the things, the byways and whatnot. . . . I love the business of playing over the air.

To me, it's literature for blind men." Alfred Alistair Cooke was born in Salford, near Manchester in northern England, where his father was a lay preacher who founded a mission that provided aid to slum districts. As a child, Mr. Cooke, who did not enjoy church attendance, was permitted to stay home and pore over the newspapers instead of the Bible. He once said his youthful ambition was to be some combination of Noel Coward and Eugene O'Neill. At Cambridge University, he had two key influences: Arthur Quiller-Couch, editor of the "Oxford Book of English Verse," who told him the keys to clear writing; and the historian D.W. Brogan, who dazzled him with brilliant political allusions that he melded with contemporary culture, such as references to Cole Porter lyrics. Mr. Cooke went on to edit the campus literary journal and helped start a drama group. He graduated summa cum laude in 1930 and began contributing articles and reviews to the American theater publication Theatre Arts Monthly. Not long after, he won a prestigious fellowship to study drama in the United States.

He received an audience with Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, who was reported to have sized up the tall, handsome Mr. Cooke with the statement, "My God, my brother!" He researched drama at Yale and Harvard universities but mostly enjoyed the experience outside the classroom, such as sitting in on the piano at jazz clubs. Traveling across the country during the Depression, he decided that a career in theater was too narrow a focus. "I began to take up what I felt was the real drama going on -- namely America itself," he said decades later. He went to Hollywood and impressed fellow Briton Charlie Chaplin with his good looks and bearing. They worked on an unproduced movie script about Napoleon. The project went nowhere, and Mr. Cooke's fellowship required he return to England to put his learning to use there. Professionally, it was a fine time to return. The BBC film critic had been fired, and Mr. Cooke got the job. He also began his book-writing career, including a study about silent film era idol Douglas Fairbanks. He returned to the United States in 1938 as a BBC commentator. He said it was far from an elite position.

Pre-World War II America, he said, was viewed by many Europeans as "rather uncivilized and unexciting." He tried to reverse that notion with stories about Mark Twain, the American vernacular and popular music. He became a U.S. citizen in 1941. In the mid-1940s, he began a nearly three-decade career as a top American correspondent for the Manchester Guardian (now called the Guardian), covering in those early days the formation of the United Nations and the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. The search for Communist subversion elevated the career of then-Rep. Richard M. Nixon (R-Calif.) and led to the downfall of many prominent government workers, including Alger Hiss, a ranking State Department official involved in a spying case. Mr. Cooke wrote "Generation on Trial: U.S.A. vs. Alger Hiss" (1950), which the journalist and political observer Richard Rovere called "one of the most vivid and literate descriptions of an American political event that has ever been written." Mr. Cooke considered himself a journalist above all else, and despite some political friendships, notably with two-time Democratic presidential nominee Adlai E.

Stevenson, he had a strong sense of objectivity. He learned an early lesson on the danger of offering journalistic analysis when he all but declared the defeat of President Harry S. Truman in the 1948 race in a major story for the Guardian. Meanwhile, Mr. Cooke's work on "Letter From America" brought him the Peabody Award for international reporting in 1952. That led to his job hosting "Omnibus" from 1952 to 1961 on a series of major networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. During the 1950s, he also appeared on "An Evening With Alistair Cooke," an album that showcased his skills as a musician and entertainer; made a study for the BBC on songwriter George Gershwin, a favorite of his; and provided narration to "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957), the film for which Joanne Woodward won an Academy Award for playing a woman with multiple personalities. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Cooke remained England's preeminent chronicler of American life.

He covered such sporting events as the rise of Muhammad Ali and the great tragedies of the time, including the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. He was energetic and constantly roving, which brought him great perspective but left his newsroom bosses exasperated. The Guardian wrote an editorial in 1968 about its chief correspondent, saying that the readers got the "best of him" -- "because his pieces will often contain a sentence or a phrase which will crystallize a torrent of acts or a cascade of opinion." The paper noted: "Cooke is a nuisance. He telephones his copy at the last moment, so that everything else has to be dropped to get it into the paper. He says that he will be in Chicago and turns up in Los Angeles. He discards the agreed subject to write about something which has taken his fancy, news of the moment or not.

But we think he's worth it, and we love him just the same." One of his greatest accomplishments in broadcasting was the 13-installment "America" series, for which he traveled 100,000 miles reporting on such topics as the treatment of Native Americans, the influence of French and Spanish culture, the Constitution, the Civil War, the Jazz Age and the counterculture period. The series became a hit and a staple of library collections nationwide. The series and the ensuing book version made him independently wealthy. He then went about his next project, "Masterpiece Theatre," which began after WGBH, a public television station in Boston, bought the rights to British television shows. Mr. Cooke wrote several more books, including "Six Men" (1977), sketches about some of his closest associates over the years: the dyspeptic journalist H.L. Mencken, philosopher Bertrand Russell, Edward VIII, Stevenson and actors Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart. Over time, Mr. Cooke was viewed less as a journalist and more as a historian.

Lecturing to a women's club in Washington in 1973, he was reported to have surveyed American history from Pocahontas to Nixon chief of staff H.R. Haldeman "in 40 seconds flat." His marriage to Ruth Emerson Cooke ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife, Jane Hawkes Cooke, whom he married in 1946; a son from his first marriage; a daughter from his second marriage; and two stepchildren. For more news, or to subscribe to the newspaper, please visit USATODAY.com - A media masterpiece A media masterpiece By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY Alistair Cooke didn't just introduce British classics. He was a British classic. Journalist and broadcaster Alistair Cooke was best known for his Letter from America weekly BBC broadcast. By John Jefford, AP To millions of Americans, Cooke, who died Tuesday at age 95, was more than just the host of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre, a post he held from 1971 to 1992.

Born in England in 1908, Cooke became a symbol of all that is cultured, literate and erudite about Great Britain — a living representative of the best his native country had to offer. And yet, he was an equally well-admired representative of his adopted country, the United States, where he became a citizen in 1941. For 58 years, from 1946 until his retirement March 3, Cooke hosted the BBC radio program Letter From America. In these weekly essays, Cooke tried to explain America to his BBC listeners — in the same soft-spoken and yet authoritative way he explained all those British Masterpieces to us. Cooke's dedication to television at its best, however, began long before Masterpiece Theatre. He made his first mark on the medium in 1953 as the host of one of the most respected commercial television programs of all time, Omnibus. Running for eight years — first on CBS, then on ABC and NBC — and usually airing commercial-free on Sunday afternoons, Omnibus attempted to offer something cultural for everyone.

Plays, musicals, operas, ballet, symphonic music, all found a home on Omnibus, along with animal adventures and the first TV work by aquatic explorer Jacques Cousteau. Still, if Omnibus was his great achievement, and the 1972 documentary series America his most touching salute to his new home, it was Masterpiece Theatre that made him an American star. So familiar did his style become that it earned him the ultimate American cultural compliment: He was spoofed on both Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street, where he became "Alistair Cookie." A classic character on a classic show. It just seems fitting. Alistair Cooke, 95; Host of 'Masterpiece Theatre' Aired 'Letter From America' - latimes Alistair Cooke, 95; Host of 'Masterpiece Theatre' Aired 'Letter From America' March 31, 2004 |Mary Rourke | Times Staff Writer Alistair Cooke, the British-born journalist and commentator who brought a refinement and elegance to American television as the popular host of "Masterpiece Theatre," has died. He was 95. Cooke, who offered insightful radio commentaries for the British Broadcasting Corp.

for 58 years, died at his home in New York City at midnight Monday, the network announced in London. The cause of death was not reported, but Cooke was known to have had heart disease. He retired from the BBC just weeks ago, citing health concerns. As the host of "Masterpiece Theatre" from 1971 to 1992, Cooke supplied wry, informative introductions for adaptations of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited," Jane Austen's "Emma" and Henry James' "The Golden Bowl" as well as the made-for-television series "Upstairs Downstairs." His urbane manner recalled a kindly professor. "Cooke introduced more people to what one would call good literature than thousands of high school and college instructors might have done," said Howard Gottlieb, director of the Mugger Library at Boston University in a 1998 interview with Cooke's biographer, Nick Clarke. Cooke donated his personal library to the university.

For The Record Los Angeles Times Thursday April 01, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 37 words Type of Material: Correction Alistair Cooke -- The obituary of commentator Alistair Cooke in Wednesday's California section stated incorrectly that "Brideshead Revisited" and "Emma" were part of the PBS series "Masterpiece Theatre," on which Cooke served as host for many years. Cooke joined the BBC in 1934 as a film critic, but European audiences knew him best for his "Letter From America" -- weekly commentaries broadcast on BBC radio starting in 1946 and continuing until his final report aired Feb. 20. There were 2,869 talks in all, each a 13-minute, 30-second spot offering Cooke's observations on political and cultural life in the United States. "Cooke had a mission to explain his adopted country to his native country," Clarke said. "He wanted to show that Americans have a depth you don't necessarily see in American films and television sitcoms." His "letter" aired in 50 countries and gained a broad audience in England.

"With equal verve and knowledge, Mr. Cooke comments on the activities of the churches, Hollywood, university presidents, baseball players, gangsters and scientists," the London Financial Times wrote some years ago. "People who want to know what really goes on in America cannot dispense with Mr. Cooke." In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair led the mourning Tuesday for the popular commentator. "I was a big fan," Blair told the BBC. "I thought they were extraordinary essays, and they brought an enormous amount of insight and understanding to the world. "He was really one of the greatest broadcasters of all time, and we shall feel his loss very, very keenly indeed," Blair added. The U.S. ambassador to Britain, William Farish, was another of Cooke's admirers. "His death is like that of a longtime friend or a wise and kindly uncle, and reminds us all of the impact a life well lived can have," he said. Clarke told British reporters Tuesday that "Letter From America" "was the thing that mattered to him more than anything. He reckoned it was work in progress. He never thought the thing was over....

I think he thought retirement was a very bad idea and when he was forced to stop work three weeks ago, I thought, this won't be long now because here was a man living for this one task." From the time that Cooke moved permanently to New York City in the late 1930s, he was appreciative of his adopted country but not blind to its flaws. In his final letter, he compared President Bush's decision to invade Iraq with the U.S. invasion of Iraq by the president's father in 1991 and suggested that this time, as last, it could cost Republicans at the polls. "The new, invigorating party conviction is a belief that Democrats had not dreamed of so far," Cooke observed. "It is the belief that George Bush can be beaten in November." With typical wry humor, he added: "This thought apparently took hold of the primary voters long before it dawned on the Democratic Party as a whole." By English standards, "Cooke was more American than the Americans.... Cooke loved America far more than he loved his home country," Clarke told The Times in 1998. Cooke became a U.S. citizen in 1941.

A self-made man, Cooke explained his enthusiasm in one of his earliest letters from America. "I never remember hearing anyone in America, no matter how snobbish, say that somebody didn't know his place," he said. "It is a deep, almost unconscious belief of Americans, that your place is what your talent and luck can make it." Cooke first attracted a U.S. following as host of "Omnibus," a pioneering commercial television program about the arts and culture. The show aired from 1952 to 1961 -- first on CBS and later on ABC. He proved to be a thoughtful observer with a rare appreciation for both British and American culture. Masterpiece Theatre Masterpiece Theatre and the Politics of Quality by Laurence A. Jarvik This book is published by Scarecrow Press . It details the origins of the drama series which has become a pillar of the PBS schedule. Here is a London Times article about MASTERPIECE THEATRE AND THE POLITICS OF QUALITY. The catalog description: Masterpiece Theatre, the popular British-made series that enjoyed a long and successful run on public television, is regarded by many as the standard against which all "quality" programs should be measured.

In this study, Laurence Jarvik provides insight into the many forces that shaped the series: its sponsor ( Mobil Corporation ), its American broadcast affiliate (television station WGBH in Boston), the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) , its host (Alistair Cooke) , and the Nixon Administration. In the process of providing us with detailed "inside" information about this particular television series, Jarvik sheds light on the many political and social issues involved in public television and in broadcast media in general. How much influence do American government and business have over the media in this and other countries? How does this affect the content and quality of the programs that we see? Meticulously researched and brimming with references to related resources on the politics of media. Author's comment: This is the real behind-the-scenes story of how Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! were born -- and continue to provide quality programs on PBS (made possible by a grant from Mobil Corporation...). There's plenty of intrigue and the backstage saga is as interesting as anything on Upstairs, Downstairs or I, Claudius, involving everyone from Richard Nixon to Diana Rigg and Alistair Cooke. You will not find this information anywhere else.

The book makes a good companion to keep by the TV while watching the programs, and includes a full index, footnotes, and bibliography. It makes an excellent addition to any local, school, or university library collection. Pefect for fans of British drama, too! Author photo by Bill Petros for the Northwest Current (Washington, DC). "A fascinating narrative and analysis of Masterpiece Theatre's birth. Jarvik's book exposes the commercial and political motives of all the interested players and makes it no longer possible to think of the series only as a pleasant weekly visit to Edwardian England." SUNDAY, MAY 9, 1999, The New York Times Arts and Leisure Section TELEVISION 'Masterpiece Theater': An Oasis of Literate TV or Snobbish Escapism? By DAVID FINKLE The very words "Masterpiece Theater" have increasingly been used as a pejorative by those who think of the show, on the air since 1971, as simply escapism for Anglophiliacs... [more] EARLIER ARTICLE THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME by Laurence Jarvik MASTERPIECE THEATRE is "boring." I love it.

But in certain American circles it is a love that dare not speak its name... [more] Table of Contents Preface: Russell Baker and Masterpiece Theatre While Russell Baker is no Alistair Cooke, he plays an important role in setting the tone for the series. You can find his New York Times columns by clicking here. 1. Introduction Masterpiece Theatre is the longest running prime-time anthology drama series in the history of American Television. It has won more Emmy awards than any other program. It has influenced network television by inspiring the mini-series, and been mined by cable companies for programming. Yet the series is far more complicated than it appears on the surface. Although it seems to be British, it is a purely American phenomenon, more closely tied to the sponsor-supplied fare of the 1950's than to anything found across the Atlantic. A close look reveals the interplay of politicial, financial, diplomatic, cultural, and personal forces in the development of this series during the crucible of the Nixon years and bears the imprint of that time. You can find out more about the period at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California. 2.

WGBH and Masterpiece Theatre WGBH president Stanford Calderwood originated Masterpiece Theatre with a trip to England in 1970. Shortly after setting up the series and laying the groundwork for Mystery! and Nova he was forced to leave his job. Today he heads Trinity Investments in Boston where he manages over $8 billion for his clients. You can find him right now and thank him for his bright idea by clicking here. Calderwood's legacy remains in the voice of his hire -- original line producer Christopher Sarson, who still gives the on-air credit to Mobil (he left the program because of his opposition to inclusion of Upstairs, Downstairs ). 3. Alistair Cooke and Masterpiece Theatre Perhaps no one can be said to embody the essence of Masterpiece Theatre more that Alfred Alistair Cooke, the urbane and unflappable host who presided over the program from its inception until the end of the 1992 television season.

Earlier, he had served as master of ceremonies for Omnibus, the cultural program which came to define uplift for the 1950's (the anthology program ran Sunday afternoons from 1952-1960 on all three networks garnering ratings as high as 17 million, far more than Masterpiece Theatre enjoys today). Cooke became an American citizen in 1941, and still broadcasts his weekly BBC report "Letter from America" which you can hear (and read) on the World Wide Web. He turned 90 in 1999. 4. PBS and Masterpiece Theatre The series is clearly the "jewel in the crown" of the PBS schedule. Masterpiece Theatre sets a benchmark for quality drama and is an anchor for the weekly schedule. Yet, it is a program which has endured misunderstanding and hassles from the network bureaucracy in Washington. You can go to the PBS website by clicking here. 5. British Television and Masterpiece Theatre Of course, British Drama is and was the franchise for Masterpiece Theatre, and the series has presented a view of England which has changed over the years -- from one of stately homes to one of council flats and violent gangs.

Yet in an important sense the escapist role of the program has remained the same. It is a weekly visit to England (or bi-weekly, if one also watches Mystery!), a televisual form of tourism in which one can forget the mundane hassles of everyday life and luxuriate in worlds either long-ago, or far-away, or both. Masterpiece Theatre has indeed presented Masterpieces of British television including Upstairs, Downstairs, The Jewel in the Crown, I, Claudius, Flame Trees of Thika, and House of Cards. It endures as a televisual club -- with a membership open to all viewers -- spreading the gospel of the English way of life. To reach British television companies on the Web, a good set of links designed for expatriates is at HomeAndAway.com. 6. Mobil Masterpiece Theatre Perhaps no one had more influence on the development of Masterpiece Theatre than Mobil public relations executive Herb Schmertz and his team of show business veterans, which included Xerox advisor Frank Marshall and press agents Frank and Arlene Goodman. You can get a copy of his memoirs Goodbye to the Low Profile from Amazon.com. 7.

Masterpiece Theatre and the Nixon Administration President Nixon was a man who left a lasting imprint on PBS. The Watergate Hearings were broadcast day and night on the publicly supported network. But equally important, Nixon's success in driving the Ford Foundation out of PBS programming (Watergate was their last Hurrah) left the field open for commercial sponsors of quality drama. Among them was the Mobil Corporation, and in Masterpiece Theatre they replaced confrontational agitprop from Ford (Day of Absence, about a world in which black workers had vanished) with period costume drama from England. Indeed Masterpiece Theatre went into the Sunday night slot PBS had given Public Broadcasting Laboratory, the Ford Foundation project devised by Fred Friendly, literally replacing Ford with Mobil. In its Churchillian tone, and its reflection of a 1950's style high-class anthology program with echoes of Omnibus (paradoxically sponsored before Ford embraced the 60's)though the choice of Alistair Cooke, Masterpiece Theatre is a reminder of the taste and sensibility of Richard Nixon, who idolized Winston Churchill. It remains a televisual legacy of his presidency to this day. You can reach the Nixon library to find out more about the former President by clicking above.

Bibliography Index About the Author Laurence A. Jarvik wrote PBS: Behind the Screen (Prima, 1997) and edited Public Broadcasting and the Public Trust (Second Thoughts Books, 1995) and The National Endowments: A Critical Symposium (Second Thoughts Books, 1995). He received his Ph.D. and Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television from UCLA's School of Film and TV and taught at UCLA and California State University, Los Angeles. He produced and directed the feature documentary film WHO SHALL LIVE AND WHO SHALL DIE (distributed by Kino International) which was broadcast on PBS stations and shown in international festivals. He has testified before Congress about PBS and cultural policy, and appeared on C-Span's Washington Journal, CNN Crossfire, ABC Nightline, and the CBS Evening News, among other programs. His articles have appeared in scholarly and popular publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, American Film, Montage, and American Cinematographer. Visit the Literary Calendar web site I spoke about Masterpiece Theatre at January 19th, 1999 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. branch of the DC Public Library.

The event was a great success, the audience lively and informed, about 30 people of all ages, races, and creeds, and I sold TWO books! I spoke again about Masterpiece Theatre at the Williams Club on April 28th, 1999 in New York City. A good time was had by all, with delicious tidbits to nibble on and an open bar followed by an interesting discussion of favorite episodes. Another success, where I sold THREE books! The Master Of 'Masterpiece' - latimes The Master Of 'Masterpiece' January 08, 1986 |HOWARD ROSENBERG SAN FRANCISCO — The elegant Huntington Hotel sits atop the city's famous Nob Hill. You expected Alistair Cooke to stay at Motel 6? The Huntington is where you envision half the male guests being named Alistair, the other half Trevor or Nigel. Mary, who has operated the hotel elevator for 35 years, told me en route to Cooke's tasteful top-floor suite that he and his wife have been staying there for years when in town from New York.

Feigning anger, Mary grumbled that she once had asked Cooke for a copy of "The Americans," a collection of his weekly radio talks for the British Broadcasting Corp. "He told me to buy it at a bookstore." "Oh, yes, Mary ," Cooke responded a bit later. "She's famous for her stories, some of which are true." Slightly stooped at 77, Cooke looks more like an earl than a career journalist and host of a TV series--"Masterpiece Theatre" on PBS--that is celebrating its 15th year on the air this week. He curled into a blue wingback chair and crossed his legs, as if this were "Masterpiece Theatre." I sat in a wingback chair opposite him. He wore his customary button-down shirt, tie and V-neck pullover beneath a tweed jacket. Believing one should look like Alistair Cooke when interviewing Alistair Cooke, I also wore a button-down shirt, tie and V-neck pullover beneath a tweed jacket. Two hours later, at the conclusion of our interview, Cooke would hurriedly change clothes to visit a friend in the hospital.

Off came the jacket, pullover and tie as he headed toward the bedroom, shortly to emerge wearing only a shirt and corduroys. Just as I had dressed as TV's Alistair Cooke for him, it seemed he had dressed as TV's Alistair Cooke for me. Now that our business was ended, only I was dressed as Cooke. Earlier, though, we had sat there, tweed to tweed, penny loafer to penny loafer, as Cooke chain-smoked Vantage cigarettes and spoke animatedly. He was charming and unpretentious. I asked him what it was like to be revered. "I find it impossible to believe that I'm anybody but me," said Cooke, who was chief American correspondent for the Manchester Guardian (now the Guardian) for 24 years. "My whole life was lived as a reporter, so I still feel a little phony being interviewed. I've done so much of it myself, from hobos to gangsters and tattoo artists. The only fun about this recognition business is the variation of human reactions." Cooke recalled speaking to a convention of librarians in Las Vegas a few years ago.

"There were about 2,000 slot machines in the hotel, and I thought, 'Well, thank God, this is one place where people are too busy 24 hours a day even to watch television.' " He was wrong. A burly casino guard mistook him for Lord Kenneth Clark. "He said, 'Civilisation,' and I said, 'Right on!' " Cooke is such a recognizable institution that it seems unlikely he'd be mistaken for anyone else. His visibility--and credibility--are such that he's frequently offered glittering sums to make commercials, but rejects them with a brief form letter: "Mr. Cooke does not do commercials." Period. No Big Mac endorsements in his future? Why so sniffy? "A man known for his ideas or opinions has absolutely no right to make commercials," Cooke said. "It's a form of whoredom, even though the money is grotesque." Cooke said his secretary was appalled that John Houseman would make commercials for Smith Barney. "She said a truly distinguished actor would never do that.

Then I told her about John Gielgud making Paul Masson commercials." When Cooke says "we," he refers to Americans, not the British, although he considers himself an Englishman abroad who just happens to be a United States citizen. It surprises people that the British-born-and-bred Cooke has been a U.S. citizen since 1941. Although a resident for 52 years, he has never bothered to learn the language and seems about as stereotypically American as kidney pie. For 40 years, though, he has shared his perceptive views of the United States on his weekly BBC radio program "A Letter From America." Cooke's U.S. fame evolved during his nine seasons of hosting the erudite "Omnibus" in the 1950s. He was shooting his "America" documentary series in 1970 when he agreed to host a new series that was to be produced by WGBH-TV in Boston and draw upon the best of British TV. It was called "Masterpiece Theatre," and the rest is delicious history.

Cooke's literate, informative and chatty intros and closes quickly became the signature of "Masterpiece Theatre," filling in the gaps for Americans unfamiliar with the literature or history upon which the British dramas were based. The videotapes come to him in New York from London. After boning up on background, he writes and memorizes his program notes and then tapes them (a 12-part series usually takes him two days) at WGBH. He wears no makeup and uses no crib sheets or TelePrompTer. "Masterpiece Classic" (1971) - News NEWS trailers and videos full cast and crew trivia official sites memorable quotes Overview 31 March 2004 | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news » LONDON -- Former BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke , who was famous in the United States as host of Omnibus in the 1950s and Masterpiece Theatre in the 1970s and '80s, died Tuesday at his New York home. He was 95. No cause of death was given.

The Britain-born American citizen broadcast a 15-minute weekly news commentary, Letter From America, on BBC Radio for 58 years, recording his last one this month (HR 3/3). The show, which began in 1946, had more than 2,500 editions, making it the longest-running radio program in the world. "I can no longer continue my 'Letter From America, ' " Cooke said in a statement released by the BBC at the time. "I have had much enjoyment in doing these talks and hope that some of it has passed over to the listeners, to all of whom I now say thank you for your loyalty and goodbye." » 30 March 2004 | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news » LONDON -- Veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke , who was famous in the United States as host of Omnibus in the '50s and Masterpiece Theater in the '70s and '80s, died at his New York home Tuesday. He was 95.

The British-born American citizen broadcast a 15-minute news commentary, Letter From America on BBC Radio for 58 years, recording his last one earlier this month (HR 03/03). The show, which began in 1946, had more than 2,500 editions, making it the longest-running radio program in the world. "I can no longer continue my 'Letter From America, '" Cooke said in a statement released at the time by the BBC. "I have had much enjoyment in doing these talks and hope that some of it has passed over to the listeners, to all of whom I now say thank you for your loyalty, and goodbye." Tributes to Cooke, whose distinctive voice and broadcasting style bridged American and British society since his arrival in Manhattan in 1937, flowed in Tuesday after the BBC announced his death. "He was really one of the greatest broadcasters of all time," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair . "I was a big fan. I thought they were extraordinary essays. They brought an enormous amount of insight and understanding to the world.

We shall feel his loss very keenly indeed." » 2 March 2004 | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news » LONDON -- The longest-running radio program in the world came to an end Tuesday when Alistair Cooke , 95, announced his retirement from BBC Radio 4's 58-year-old Letter from America on doctor's orders. "I can no longer continue my 'Letter From America, '" Cooke said in a statement released by the BBC. "Throughout 58 years, I have had much enjoyment in doing these talks and hope that some of it has passed over to the listeners, to all of whom I now say thank you for your loyalty, and goodbye." Transplanted Englishman Cooke, who typed his weekly Letter from a Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park since 1946, became famous in America as the host of Masterpiece Theatre on PBS from 1971-1992, introducing British dramatic series with his distinctive voice.

» 11 January 2004 | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news » PBS has yet to find a new corporate sponsor to support Masterpiece Theater after longtime underwriter Exxon Mobil Corp. bows out at end of the current season, PBS president Pat Mitchell said Saturday during PBS' TCA session. PBS needs an estimated $7 million in corporate funding to support its veteran franchise. Mitchell vowed that Masterpiece would continue for the next two seasons with PBS' support even without a corporate partner. Separately, PBS announced the start of production today in New York on a new entry, PBS Hollywood Presents , a series to star Richard Dreyfuss as a veteran cop working Manhattan's Upper West Side. The production, which also features Rita Moreno , Blair Brown and Rosie Perez , will be shot live in real-time in two 45-minute segments to simulate a live telecast, PBS officials said.

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Question: Which English-born US citizen hosted Masterpiece theater?
Answer: Alistair Cooke