Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley died Thursday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan of complications from leukemia.
Bradley joined the staff of the venerable news magazine 26 years ago. His consummate skills as a broadcast journalist and his distinctive body of work were recognized with numerous awards, including 19 Emmys, the latest for a segment that reported the reopening of the 50-year-old racial murder case of Emmett Till.
I have watched 60 Minutes every week since I was a kid, and without question, my two favorite all-time 60 Minutes newscasters are Harry Reasoner and Ed Bradley. I honestly had no idea that Bradley had leukemia, although just a week or so ago, I thought to my self that his voice sounded funny.
Sometimes when these celebrities and famous people pass, I nod, and say to myself- “He/she had a good life.” Other times, I just feel old, as I did when Mr. Rogers died, because someone from my youth has died. And in some cases, I think to myself that I am really, really going to miss that individual’s contributions. In this case, with Ed Bradley passing, it is a little bit of all three.
RIP, Ed Bradley.
Dreggas
Wow yet another one. Man wasn’t it Christopher Glen not long ago? I still even have some old recordings of the Bugs Bunny Road Runner show on VHS from when we got our first VCR and there are those “In The News” clips on them.
I remember watching 60 minutes growing up too and remember Ed (60 minutes then murder she wrote, it was clockwork in our house).
Geez…
manyoso
What? Mr. Rogers died??!!
Face
60 Minutes…longest running show on TV…by a mile. Still around despite it being the last of a dead breed of shows that reported news sans spin. Facts, not opinion. Always (aside from Rooney, of course).
A classier show could not be constructed and produced.
Dreggas
manyoso,
yeah he died a while ago I believe.
Darrell's Darrell
Oh, sure. Bradley died just so he wouldn’t have to say how great a SECDEF Donald Rumsfeld was. Since your conversion to the libs, John, you continue to suck up to the leftist MSM. How honest of you.
matt
Was there something specific about his style that you enjoyed? I’ve watched 60 Minutes off and on over the years, but not enough to have a strong opinion one way or the other about any of its cast.
Dave
I aslo enjoyed him. I’ll miss him as well.
I can remember way back in the 80s (?) when he got his ear pierced. I thought that was too cool
r€nato
I just saw him a week or two ago on 60 Minutes. I thought he looked kind of gaunt but I chalked that up to age.
He’ll be missed.
Tom
He was on 60 minutes for 26 YEARS?!?!?!? I still thought of him as the new guy.
Richard 23
This sucks. I remember when Reasoner died. I think Bradley got his ear pierced the same year I did: 1986!
just sayin
Ed Bradley did great work on most of his stories, but he had a particular touch with some of the musicians. I particularly remember when he went on stage with a cowbell at a Neville Brothers show during a story on Aaron. I’ll miss him.
Krista
That is a yucky feeling, isn’t it? I remember Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs, who was a good friend of Fred Rogers and wound up creating a similar children’s show in Canada) died less than a week after 9-11. The combination of those two things in such a short time felt like having the last shred of innocence forcibly ripped away.
Punchy
Was he their only black news correspondent? I always thought he was able to get better answers out of some of the minority interviewees b/c they could “relate” with him better. I just dont see Steve Croft giving said props to Diddy the way Ed could….
ThymeZone
Bradley was a classic journalist and a classy, gentle man.
He will be missed. RIP.
DougJ
I’ve always liked Ed Bradley too. I love the whole 60 minutes crew — like you, I think I like Reasoner and Bradley the best of all. He’ll be missed.
John S.
Now that all the real journalists are getting much older and passing on (Peter Jennings, Ed Bradley, etc.), who will be stepping up to fill their shoes?
Because quite frankly, the airwaves are filled with pseudo-journalists and loudmouth hacks. So where is this generation’s Walter Cronkite? Are actually news reporters on the verge of extinction?
Teak111
Why couldn’t have been that old goat Mike Wallace, Gees, life is unfair. Guy smokes like a chimney yet Bradley gets Lukemia. Never forgive Wallace for not running an espisode about big tobacco because big tobacco owned CBS. Then he did a mea culpa espisode for CYA. RIP Ed. You were one of the good poeple and they always die young. Sad.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
He got out of the biz a while ago – residual bitterness that his entry-level salary didn’t top $20,000.
Richard 23
Chris Wallace. Bill O’Reilly. [hurl]
Matt Drudge. [hurl]
I hope there are real journalists coming soon. After Mike Wallace goes, who’s left? There’s certainly no Ed Bradleys on the horizon.
merlallen
Mr Rogers is dead?
Demento
He was good, better than the other old-timers on 60M. Did you hear Wallace’s comments on NPR? What a mutt, he claimed he was tough and got the rough, tough interviews and said Bradley wasn’t tough. Bradley was tough, spent a lot of time in Viet Nam, got wounded and hated Washington, DC. Good recommendations in my book.