Academy Hall of Fame Selects Barker, Carney, Couric, Rather, and Tartikoff

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Committee has selected Bob Barker, Art Carney, Katie Couric, Dan Rather and Brandon Tartikoff (posthumously) to be inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame.
''The ATAS Hall of Fame is a special place reserved only for those who have made significant contributions that will leave an indelible mark on the television business," said Academy Chairman Dick Askin, who made the announcement. "Certainly, the extraordinary bodies of work of Bob Barker, Art Carney, Katie Couric, Dan Rather and Brandon Tartikoff have each helped shape our industry and serve as benchmarks for excellence for all people involved in our craft. It is an honor to recognize their individual careers and we are pleased to formally welcome them into our Hall of Fame."

The Academy’s Board of Governors first nominates candidates for the Hall of Fame and then the final decision is voted on by the Hall of Fame Selection Committee. The committee, which this year was chaired by Sam Haskell, Executive Vice President and Worldwide Head of Television for the William Morris Agency, included Leslie Moonves, Chairman and CEO of CBS; Peter Roth, President of Warner Bros. Television; Ethel Winant, casting director and Academy Hall of Fame inductee; Tom Del Ruth, Emmy Award-winning cinematographer of The West Wing; and Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment of UPN.

Bob Barker — Barker is in his 32nd year as host of CBS’ The Price is Right, the longest running game show in television history. Having won a total of 15 Emmy Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award for Daytime Television, Barker also received the coveted Carbon Mike Award of the Pioneer Broadcasters and was named the most popular game show host of all time in a national poll. Barker made his motion picture debut in Universal Pictures Happy Gilmore in which he appeared as himself opposite Adam Sandler. He made his debut on national television as the host of the popular game show Truth or Consequences. In addition he has narrated the CBS telecast of the Rose Parade and was the host of the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants for 21 years.

Art Carney — Carney has earned seven Emmy Awards, five of them for his memorable role as the lovable Ed Norton on The Honeymooners. Following The Honeymooners, he worked extensively on Broadway where he created the role of fussy Felix Unger in the original production of The Odd Couple and appeared in The Rope Dancers, The Prisoners of Second Avenue and Take Her, She’s Mine. His first lead role in a feature film was in Harry and Tonto, which won him an Oscar. Other film credits include A Guide for the Married Man, W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings and The Late Show. His role in the 1984 telefilm Terrible Joe Moran won him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special.

Katie Couric — Couric has been co-anchor of NBC’s Today Show since 1991 and is a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC. She joined the Today Show in 1990 as its first national correspondent and worked her way up to substitute co-anchor and shortly thereafter, permanent co-anchor. From 1987 to 1989, Couric was a general assignment reporter at WRC-TV, the NBC television station in Washington, D.C., before joining NBC News in 1989 as deputy Pentagon correspondent. At WRC-TV, she won a local Emmy Award and an Associated Press Award for her work. In May 2001, Couric was honored with the prestigious George Foster Peabody award for her series "Confronting Colon Cancer." Couric has earned a total of six Emmy Awards, a National Headliner Award, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award, an Associated Press Award, a Matrix Award, a Gracie Allen Award and was named the 2002 "Wow Woman of the Year" by Glamour magazine, and was awarded the Julius B. Richmond Award 2003 by the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dan Rather — Rather has been anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News with Dan Rather since 1981. He is also a correspondent for 60 Minutes II. Rather anchored 48 Hours from its inception in 1988 until 2001. After stints with Associated Press, United Press International and the Houston Chronicle, Rather began his career at CBS as a radio reporter Houston, Texas. At KHOU-TV in Houston, he served as the station’s News Director. Rather became a correspondent on the CBS Evening News with Walther Cronkite and Houston Bureau Chief in 1962. His coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy vaulted him to national attention and in1964, CBS assigned him to cover the White House.  His groundbreaking interviews include a one-on-one with Saddam Hussein on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion this year, the first sit-down interview with President Clinton after his impeachment, and a conversation with Bill Cosby after the death of his son Ennis. Rather has received virtually every honor in broadcast journalism, including numerous Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award. Rather has written, edited and contributed to numerous books; his most recent was the best-selling The American Dream.

Brandon Tartikoff — Tartikoff is best remembered as the man who transformed NBC into a television powerhouse. During his tenure from 1980-1991, Tartikoff developed the network into the top-rated network with innovative shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cheers, L.A. Law, The Cosby Show and Family Ties. He began his career at WLS-TV in Chicago and in 1976 moved to ABC in New York as a program executive. In 1977 he made the move to NBC where he rose to become the youngest president of the network at the age of 30. He then moved to Paramount Pictures and became its chairman (1991-92) and in 1995 formed his own production company. Tartikoff died of a third recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease in 1997 at the age of 48.