Alistair Cooke KBE (20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British journalist, television personality and broadcaster. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and Alistair Cooke's America, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre from 1971 to 1992. After holding the job for 22 years, and having worked in television for 42 years, Cooke retired in 1992, although he continued to present Letter from America until shortly before his death. He was the father of author and folk singer John Byrne Cooke.
November 20, 1908, Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
Died
March 30, 2004, New York City, New York, United States
Place Of Birth
Salford, Lancashire, England, UK
Profession
Actor, Writer
Children
John Byrne Cooke, Susan Byrne Cooke
TV Shows
Masterpiece, America
Star Sign
Scorpio
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Quote
1
On television, if you're getting intimate, you must look in people's eyes, which is why I've never used a teleprompter. You see the camera's eye is the eye of the audience, and you must look into it. For the "Masterpiece Theater" segments. I do six or seven a day, memorizing each one before it's to be filmed.
2
[on Greta Garbo] Every man's harmless fantasy mistress. She gave you the impression that, if your imagination had to sin, it could at least congratulate itself on its impeccable taste.
3
[on Douglas Fairbanks] Fairbanks' glory, the mystery of his visual imagination, is that he could throw away all the text book tricks on the makeshift apparatus of ordinary life. To Fairbanks the limb of a tree suggests a hocks-off; a narrow lane with high walls is a risky, but workable, set of parallel bars; a spear is a pole to vault with.
4
[on Mary Pickford] She was the girl every young man wanted to have -- as his sister.
5
As always, the British shudder at the latest American vulgarity, and then embrace it with enthusiasm two years later.
6
I'm still an Englishman in America. An Irish Lancastrian, really. I don't kid myself that I'm from Arkansas.
7
Canned music is like audible wallpaper.
8
In America the race is on between its decadence and its vitality, and it has plenty of both.
9
People in America, when listening to radio, like to lean forward. People in Britain like to lean back.
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Fact
1
His son was road manager for Janis Joplin and was the one to discover her 18 hours after her fatal heroine overdose.
2
He was spoofed on Sesame Street by Cookie Monster who was Alistair Cookie.
3
In 1934, Charles Chaplin was scheduled to serve as best man at broadcaster Alistair Cooke's marriage to Ruth Emerson (Ruth Emerson Cooke), but Charlie never showed. Reputedly, he and wife-to-be Paulette Goddard were having such a good time at Southern California's Lake Arrowhead, they decided to stay.
4
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 95-97. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
5
Shortly after his death it was discovered that some of his bones had been removed before his body was passed to his family for cremation. Police investigating an illegal trade in bones, used for transplants and sold for thousands of dollars, found that his body was one of many which had been desecrated in the mortuary. His ashes were scattered in New York's Central Park.
6
A memorial service was held for him at London's Westminster Abbey on 15th October 2004.
7
His second wife, Jane White Hawkes, was a painter and the widow of the son of U.S. Senator Albert W. Hawkes. Their daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, is an ordained minister.
Cooke worked as a personal assistant to Charlie Chaplin (the Little Tramp) on a projected film about the life of Napoleon. Chaplin had been invited to be Best Man at Cooke's wedding to Ruth Emerson, but the bride's mother objected to the film star's living in sin with actress Paulette Goddard.
10
His "Letter from America" began its thirteen week run on 24 March 1946. It ended after 2869 letters in March 2004, weeks before Cooke's death.
11
A naturalised US citizen, he was awarded an honorary knighthood in 1973.
12
He retired at the age of 95 years in 2004 due to failing health.
13
Became a U.S. Citizen in 1941.
14
His "Letter From America" radio broadcast to the UK (and the world via the BBC World Service) ran from 1946-2004 making it the world's longest running speech radio show (58 years).
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Stingers
2000
TV Series
S.O.G.
Piece of Cake
1988
TV Mini-Series
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
1973
Narrator (voice, uncredited)
The Three Faces of Eve
1957
Narrator
Omnibus
1952-1956
TV Series
Host / Everyman
Celanese Theatre
1952
TV Series
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
America
1972
TV Series documentary
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Tramp and the Dictator
2002
Documentary grateful thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
NBC Experiment in Television
1970
TV Series
Himself - Host
ABC Stage 67
1967
TV Series
Himself - Host
NET Journal
1966
TV Series documentary
Narrator
World in Action
1963-1964
TV Series documentary
Himself
Three on a Match
1963
Documentary
Narrator
Opening Night at Lincoln Center
1962
TV Movie documentary
Himself - Host
Omnibus
1952-1961
TV Series
Himself - Host / Himself / Himself - commentary
Blitz on Britain
1960
Documentary
Narrator
Critic at Large
1948
TV Series
Himself - Writer / Correspondent
Transatlantic Quiz
1946
TV Series
Himself - US Quiz-Master
New Worlds for Old
1938
Documentary short
Himself - Narrator
All at Sea
1933/II
Short
Himself
Masterpiece Classic
1971-2008
TV Series
Himself - Host
Charlie Rose
1996
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Arena
1993
TV Series documentary
Himself
Alistair Cooke Salute
1992
TV Movie
Himself
Backstage at Masterpiece Theatre
1991
TV Special
Himself - Host
The Congress
1988
TV Movie documentary
Himself - Journalist
Great Performances
1988
TV Series
Himself
Masterpiece Theatre: Fifteen Years
1986
TV Movie
Himself - Host
The 37th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
1985
TV Special
Himself - Winner: Governor's Award
Unknown Chaplin
1983
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
The 6th People's Choice Awards
1980
TV Special
Himself - Audience Member
Dinah!
1975
TV Series
Himself
Jack Paar Tonite
1973
TV Series
Himself
Parkinson
1972
TV Series
Himself
America
1972
TV Series documentary
Host
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Seventies
2015
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Unseen Alistair Cooke
2008
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Horizon
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself
Forty Years
1976
TV Movie
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1985
Governor's Award
Primetime Emmy Awards
1975
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement
Masterpiece Theatre (1971)
1973
Richard Dimbleby Award
BAFTA Awards
America (1972)
1973
Personal Award
Peabody Awards
For his part in "America, a Personal View by Alistair Cooke".