Charles Collingwood (journalist)
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Charles Collingwood (June 4, 1917 – October 3, 1985) was an American
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and war correspondent. He was an early member of
Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...
's group of foreign correspondents that was known as the "
Murrow Boys The Murrow Boys, or Murrow's Boys, were the CBS radio broadcast journalists most closely associated with Edward R. Murrow during his time at the network, most notably in the years before and during World War II. Murrow recruited a number of newsm ...
". During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he covered Europe and North Africa for
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
. Collingwood was also among the early ranks of television journalists who included
Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
,
Eric Sevareid Arnold Eric Sevareid (November 26, 1912 – July 9, 1992) was an American author and CBS news journalist from 1939 to 1977. He was one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed " Murrow's ...
, and Murrow himself.Olson, Lynne and Cloud, Stanley W. ''The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism.'' October 31, 1997. Mariner Books. .


Early life

Collingwood was born in
Three Rivers, Michigan Three Rivers is a city in St. Joseph County, Michigan. The population was 7,973 at the time of the 2020 census. Three Rivers derives its name from its location at the confluence of the St. Joseph River and two tributaries, the Rocky and Porta ...
. He attended
Deep Springs College Deep Springs College (known simply as Deep Springs or DS) is a private, selective two-year college in Deep Springs, California. With the number of undergraduates restricted to 26, the college is one of the smallest institutions of higher educat ...
and graduated from
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
. In 1939, he received a
Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
to study at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.


World War II

Collingwood covered
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
for
United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
in London and was soon recruited to
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
by Edward R. Murrow in 1941. He established himself as an urbane and spontaneously-eloquent on-air journalist. In 1942, Collingwood was sent to cover the North African Campaign, where he proved his reporting abilities despite being considered "green" as a broadcast journalist. On
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, he landed at
Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...
hours after the first wave of soldiers had hit the beaches. Of the CBS reporters accompanying the ground invasion, he recorded a report on June 6 that made it to broadcast two days later. The other CBS correspondents on the ground,
Bill Downs William Randall Downs, Jr. (August 17, 1914 – May 3, 1978) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He worked for CBS News from 1942 to 1962 and for ABC News beginning in 1963. He was one of the original members of the te ...
and
Larry LeSueur Laurence Edward LeSueur (June 10, 1909 – February 5, 2003) was an American journalist and a war correspondent during World War II. He worked closely with Edward R. Murrow and was one of the original Murrow Boys. Early life LeSueur was born on J ...
, were not able to deliver reports until days later because of trouble setting up mobile transmitters. When General
Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. Bradley ...
told Collingwood that the
French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
was about to rise up and liberate Paris, Collingwood prepared and sent a recording with news of the liberation to CBS in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
so that it would be ready when the city was actually freed. The recording bore a label that said to hold it back until Paris was actually liberated, but the technician at CBS did not read the label and immediately aired the recording. On that day, August 22, there were still thousands of German troops in Paris, and the Resistance fighters who were fighting and dying did not appreciate that the world was told that Paris had been liberated. The city would not be actually liberated until three days later, on August 25.


Later career

After the war, Collingwood remained with CBS and established himself as a television journalist. One of his first roles on television was as host of the CBS documentary series ''
Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
'', which was produced in collaboration with the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
. He went on to become the chief correspondent of CBS and host of its ''
Eyewitness to History ''Eyewitness to History'' was a Friday night CBS Television Network public affairs program. It was initially hosted by veteran broadcaster Charles Kuralt (1960–61), followed by Walter Cronkite (1961–62), and then Charles Collingwood (journalis ...
'' series. In 1959 he succeeded Edward R. Murrow as host of ''
Person to Person ''Person to Person'' is a popular television program in the United States that originally ran from 1953 to 1961, with two episodes of an attempted revival airing in 2012. Edward R. Murrow hosted the original series from its inception in 1953 unti ...
''. He was a leading figure in CBS's expansion to include international coverage, and was CBS News's first
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
correspondent. He later served as the network's White House correspondent. Collingwood accompanied then-
First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...
on a televised tour of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
which she had renovated during the first year of the presidency of her husband,
United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
. The resulting program, ''
A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy ''A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy'' was a television special featuring the first lady of the United States, Jacqueline Kennedy, on a tour of the recently renovated White House. It was broadcast on Valentine's Day, February 14 ...
'', was broadcast on
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
in 1962 and was seen by 80 million viewers and broadcast in 50 countries, including Russia and China. He served as substitute anchor during portions of CBS's coverage of the
Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 un ...
on November 22, 1963, relieving
Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
only minutes after Cronkite had announced the official confirmation of Kennedy's death. Collingwood was CBS's chief foreign correspondent from 1964 to 1975, covering warfare in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. In 1968, he became the first US reporter allowed into
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
. The inspiration for Collingwood's 1970
espionage novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...
''The Defector'' largely came from this visit. The book received critical praise for its merits as a thriller and for its insights into the complexities of the Vietnam War.


Personal life

Collingwood retired in 1982. He was married to actress
Louise Allbritton Louise Allbritton (July 3, 1920 – February 16, 1979) was an American film and stage actress born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her name was sometimes seen as Louise Albritton. She played in such films as ''Pittsburgh'' (1942), '' Who Done It?'' ...
from 1946 until she died of cancer in 1979. He married the Swedish singer Tatiana Angelini-Jolin (''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Scheremetiew) (1923–2006) in 1984. He died of cancer on October 3, 1985 at Lenox Hill Hospital in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Honors

*Received the
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for Outstanding Reporting of the News in 1942. He received a second Peabody Award in 1955. *Received an award from the National Headliner's Club in 1943 for "consistently accurate and interesting accounts of the fighting in North Africa war zone." He received a second award in 1949 for "coverage of the Arizona-Colorado dispute over the division of water from the Colorado River." *Received the General Federation of Women's Club Television Award in education in 1956, and the "Better Understanding" award from the
English-Speaking Union The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organistation. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages and cultures, by building skill ...
in 1957. *Made Honorary Commander of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
in 1975 for contributions to British-American friendship and understanding. *Made a Chevalier in the French
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collingwood, Charles 1917 births 1985 deaths American broadcast news analysts American television journalists American radio reporters and correspondents American war correspondents American war correspondents of World War II American war correspondents of the Vietnam War CBS News people American Rhodes Scholars American male journalists Peabody Award winners Journalists from Michigan Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deep Springs College alumni People from Three Rivers, Michigan 20th-century American journalists Cornell University alumni