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Walter Cronkite

Acting

Born November 4, 1916 · St. Joseph, Missouri, USA

Died July 17, 2009

Also known as Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr.

Biography

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Although he reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including bombing in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War, the death of President John F. Kennedy, the death of civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King, Jr., Watergate, and the Iran Hostage Crisis, he was known for extensive TV coverage of the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. He was the only non-NASA recipient of a Moon-rock award. Cronkite is well known for his departing catchphrase "And that's the way it is," followed by the date on which the appearance is aired. Description above from the Wikipedia article Walter Cronkite, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Awards & recognition

  • Nierenberg Prize · 2002
  • Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award · 1998
  • International Space Hall of Fame · 1996
  • Ischia International Journalism Award · 1995
  • Trustees Award · 1982
Show all 15 awards →
  • Presidential Medal of Freedom · 1981
  • Peabody Awards · 1980
  • George Polk Award · 1970
  • Award of Honor of the National Cartoonists Society · 1965
  • Peabody Awards · 1962
  • Evelyn F. Burkey Award
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Four Freedoms Award – Freedom of Speech
  • Great Silver Medal of HonourServices to the Republic of Austria
  • Library of Congress Living Legend

Filmography50+ titles

JFK Assassination: A New Perspective

2025as Self (archive footage)

JFK: One PM Central Standard Time

2013as Self (archive footage)

Hollywood Black

2024as Self (archive footage)

Dateline: Saigon

2017as Self (archival footage)

Apollo 11

2019as Self (archive footage)

Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy

2004as Self

Network

1976as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Sally

2025as Self (archive footage)

Liberty's Kids

2002as Benjamin Franklin (voice)

All the President's Men

1976as Self (archive sound) (uncredited)

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

2021as Self - Host, CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (archive footage)

The Pixar Story

2007as Self (archive footage)

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

1970as Walter Cronkite

The Sixties

2014as Self (archive footage)

Apollo 13

1995Thanks

The Seventies

as Self

Apollo: Missions to the Moon

2019as Self - CBS News (archive footage)

Reversing Roe

2018as Self (archive footage)

American Masters

1986as Self - Interviewee (archive footage)

One to One: John & Yoko

2024as Self (archive footage)

The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden

2020as Self (archive footage)

Apollo: The Forgotten Films

2019as Self (archive footage)

Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words

2014as Self (archive footage)

Milk

2008as Self (archive footage)

War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

2007as Self (archive footage)

4 Little Girls

1997as Self - Special Correspondent CBS News

Apollo 13: Survival

2024as Self (archive footage)

Challenger: The Final Flight

2020as Self (archive footage)

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

2019as Self - Anchorman (archive footage)

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners

2012as Self (archive footage)

Thirteen Days

2000as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy

2021as Self (archive footage)

I Am Richard Pryor

2019as Self - Anchorman (archive footage)

Ethel

2012as Self (archive footage)

Fail Safe

2000as Self - Host

The Man Who Saved the World

2013as Self

The Dick Cavett Show

1968as Self - Guest

The Ed Sullivan Show

1948as Self

Gloria: In Her Own Words

2011as Self (archive footage)

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

2006as Self

American Experience

1988as Self (archive footage)

Whose Vote Counts, Explained

as Self (archive footage)

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues

2022as Self (voice) (archive sound)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

2019as Self (archive footage)

Mike Wallace Is Here

2019as Self (archive footage)

Studio 54

2018as Self (archive footage)

The Reagan Show

2017as Self (archive footage)

Amandla!

2002as Self (voice)

Untold: Caitlyn Jenner

2022as Self (archive footage)

The Martha Mitchell Effect

2022as Self (archive footage)