The grand old TV anchor-news reader was pure gold.

• Author: Saltzman, Joe
• Position: Words & Images - JERRY DUNPHY - Brief Article - Obituary

JERRY DUNPHY was 80 when he died in May. For half of those years, he was the definitive local news anchor in Los Angeles television and the model for news anchors around the country--the good-looking male anchor with the gray hair, the stentorian baritone who read the news in an authoritative, this-is-what-happened-today manner. Viewers believed what he said and understood every word because of his superb pronunciation and pacing. Dunphy was the anchor every newswriter wanted to write for because, like the print counterpart of a beautifully designed news page, Dunphy was the best at what he did and read every story given to him in the most accessible and sensible way.

There were two things Dunphy hated. One was when colleagues and critics labeled him a "news reader" and not a journalist. Dunphy refuted the idea that a news reader was not just a "talking head." He insisted he was a newsman, but the truth is that Dunphy had little news experience. When it came to his competition, especially on the networks, even he had to admit that he lacked their hard news experience. Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, and David Brinkley all had extensive journalism backgrounds before they took over the anchor desk. Dunphy did not. But if anyone was ever born to be the perfect TV news anchor, it was Jerry Dunphy.

Unfortunately, Dunphy never realized how important a news reader is. No anchor really has to do anything but read the news. Some field journalists, such as Cronkite and his successor, Dan Rather, were embarrassed and even bored doing it. So, grandiose titles were given to them ("managing editor") and they usually insisted that they cover major stories of national importance. What no one seemed to realize was that most good field reporters never make very good anchors. (Rather still looks uneasy behind the desk.) In "Broadcast News," James Brooks, the cocreator of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," demonstrated the key differences between a born anchor (William Hurt) and a superb reporter (Albert Brooks) who dreams of being an anchor and just can't hack it. A good news reader who can instantly read a piece of copy enabling the average viewer to grasp a complicated story in one hearing is a rarity. Dunphy could take the most complicated news story and read it so clearly and effortlessly that the words went directly into the minds of thousands of viewers who, because of him, better understood the headlines of the day. This was no small achievement.

Besides...