Michael J. Fox OC
Michael J. Fox in April 2011
Born	Michael Andrew Fox (1961-06-09) June 9, 1961 (age 51) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation	Actor, author, producer, activist, voice-over artist
Years active	1973–present
Spouse	Tracy Pollan (1988–present; 4 children)

Michael J. Fox, OC (born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9, 1961) is a Canadian American actor, author, celebrity, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982–1989) for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.^[1]

Since 2000 Fox has mainly worked as a voice-over actor in films such as Stuart Little and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and taken guest TV roles such as in Boston Legal, The Good Wife, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Rescue Me. He has also released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002); Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009); and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 27, 2011, for his outreach and fundraising work.^[2]

Early life[link]

Michael Andrew Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the son of Phyllis (née Piper), an actress and payroll clerk; and William Fox, a police officer and member of the Canadian Forces.^[3][4] Fox's family lived in various cities and towns across Canada because of his father's career.^[3] The family finally moved to the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia, when his father retired in 1971. His father died on January 6, 1990 from a heart attack.^[5] Fox attended Burnaby Central Secondary School, and now has a theatre named after him in Burnaby South Secondary.^[6]

Fox starred in the Canadian television series Leo and Me at the age of fifteen, and in 1979, moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career at the age of eighteen. Shortly after his marriage, he decided to move back to Vancouver, BC.^[3] Fox is one of four members of the Leo and Me cast and crew who eventually developed Parkinson's disease in mid-life, an unusually high number that led to some investigation as to whether an environmental factor may have played a role.^[7][8][9]

Fox was discovered by producer Ronald Shedlo and made his American television debut in the television movie Letters from Frank, credited under the name "Michael Fox". He intended to continue to use the name, but when he registered with the Screen Actors Guild, which does not allow duplicate registration names to avoid credit ambiguities, he discovered that Michael Fox, a veteran character actor, was already registered under the name.^[3] As he explained in his autobiography, Lucky Man: A Memoir, and in interviews, he needed to come up with a different name. He did not like the sound of "Andrew" or "Andy" Fox, so he decided to adopt a new middle initial and settled on "J", as an homage to actor Michael J. Pollard.^[5]

Acting career[link]

Early career[link]

Michael J. Fox with Tracy Pollan at the 40th Emmy Awards^[10] in August 1988 shortly after they were married

Fox's first feature film roles were in Midnight Madness (1980) and Class of 1984 (1982), credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing "Young Republican" Alex P. Keaton in the show Family Ties which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Fox received the role only after Matthew Broderick was unavailable.^[11] Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids,"^[11] with the parents originally intended to be the main characters. However, the positive reaction to Fox's performance led to his character's becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode.^[11] At its peak, the audience for Family Ties drew one-third of America's households every week.^[3] Fox won three Emmy awards for Family Ties in 1986, 1987 and 1988 respectively.^[12] He also won a Golden Globe Award in 1989.^[13]

Brandon Tartikoff, one of the show's producers, felt that Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced. Tartikoff reportedly said that "this is not the kind of face you'll ever find on a lunch-box". After his later successes, Fox presented Tartikoff with a custom-made lunch-box with the inscription "To Brandon, this is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox". Tartikoff kept the lunch-box in his office for the rest of his NBC career.^[14]

While filming Family Ties, Fox met his future wife, Tracy Pollan, when she portrayed his girlfriend, Ellen.^[3] When Fox left the TV series Spin City, his final episodes made numerous allusions to Family Ties: Michael Gross (who played Alex's father Steven) portrays Mike Flaherty's (Fox's) therapist,^[15] and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory".^[16] Also, when Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C., he meets a conservative senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton, and in one episode Meredith Baxter played Mike's mother.

[edit] Back to the Future trilogy

Michael J. Fox at the 40th Emmy Awards, August 1988.

Back to the Future tells the story of Marty McFly (Fox), a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955. He meets his parents in high school, accidentally attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents to fall in love, while finding a way to return to 1985. Robert Zemeckis, the director, originally wanted Fox to play Marty but Gary David Goldberg the creator of Family Ties, which Fox was working on at the time, refused to allow Zemeckis to even approach Fox as he felt that as Meredith Baxter was on maternity leave at the time, Fox's character Alex Keaton was needed to carry the show in her absence. Eric Stoltz was cast and was already filming Back to the Future, but Zemeckis felt that Stoltz was not giving the right type of performance for the humor involved.^[17] Zemeckis quickly replaced Stoltz with Fox whose schedule was now more open with the return of Meredith Baxter. During filming, Fox would rehearse for Family Ties from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, then rush to the Back to the Future set where he would rehearse and shoot until 2:30 a.m.^[3] This schedule lasted for two full months.^[3] Back to the Future was both a commercial and critical success. The film spent 8 consecutive weekends as the number-one grossing movie at the US box office in 1985, and eventually earned a worldwide total of $381.11 million.^[18] Variety applauded the performances, arguing Fox and his co-star Christopher Lloyd imbued Marty and Doc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent of King Arthur and Merlin.^[19] Two sequels, Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III, were released in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

Mid-career[link]

Fox in September 1987

During and immediately after the Back to the Future trilogy, Fox starred in Teen Wolf (1985), Light of Day (1987), The Secret of My Success (1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988) and Casualties of War (1989).

In The Secret of My Success, Fox played a recent graduate from Kansas State University who moves to New York City where he has to deal with the downs and ups of the business world. The film was successful at the box office, taking $110 million worldwide.^[20] Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times wrote; "Fox provides a fairly desperate center for the film. It could not have been much fun for him to follow the movie's arbitrary shifts of mood, from sitcom to slapstick, from sex farce to boardroom brawls."^[21]

In Bright Lights, Big City Fox played a fact-checker for a New York magazine, who spends his nights partying with alcohol and drugs. The film received mixed reviews, with Hal Hinson in The Washington Post criticizing Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job".^[22] Meanwhile Roger Ebert praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)".^[23] During the shooting of Bright Lights, Big City, Michael was reunited with his on-screen girlfriend Tracy Pollan from Family Ties.

Fox then starred in Casualties of War, a war drama about the Vietnam War, alongside Sean Penn. Casualties of War was not a box office hit, but Fox, playing a Private serving in Vietnam, received good reviews for his performance. Don Willmott on film critic’s website wrote; "Fox, only one year beyond his Family Ties sitcom silliness, rises to the challenges of acting as the film's moral voice and sharing scenes with the always intimidating Penn."^[24]

In 1991, he starred in Doc Hollywood, a romantic comedy about a talented medical doctor who decides to become a plastic surgeon. While relocating from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, California, he winds up as a doctor in a small southern town. Michael Caton-Jones, from Time Out, described Fox in the film as "at his frenetic best".^[25] The Hard Way was also released in 1991, with Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officer James Woods. Between 1992 and 1996, he continued making several films, such as For Love or Money (1993), Life With Mikey (1993) and Greedy (1994). Fox then played small supporting roles in political drama The American President (1995) and comedy Mars Attacks! (1996).^[3]

His last major film role was in The Frighteners (1996). The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he uses his new abilities by cheating customers out of money for his "ghost hunting" business. However, a mass murderer comes back from Hell, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence. Fox's performance received critical praise, Kenneth Turan in The Los Angeles Times wrote; "The film's actors are equally pleasing. Both Fox, in his most successful starring role in some time, and Alvarado, who looks rather like Andie MacDowell here, have no difficulty getting into the manic spirit of things."^[26]

Fox has also done voice-over work providing the voice of Stuart Little in the Stuart Little movie and its sequel, both of which were based on the popular book by E. B. White.^[27] He also voiced the American Bulldog Chance in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and its sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, as well as Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.^[27]

[edit] Spin City and later career

The hand prints of Michael J. Fox in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Spin City ran from 1996 to 2002 on American television network channel ABC. The show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Fox as Mike Flaherty, a Fordham Law graduate serving as the Deputy Mayor of New York.^[3] Fox won an Emmy award for Spin City in 2000,^[12] three Golden Globe Awards in 1998, 1999 and 2000^[13] and two Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1999 and 2000.^[28] During the third season of Spin City, Fox made the announcement to the cast and crew of the show that he had Parkinson's Disease. During the fourth season, he announced his retirement from the show to focus on spending more time with his family.^[29] He announced that he planned to continue to act and would make guest appearances on Spin City (he made three more appearances on the show during the final season). After leaving the show, he was replaced by Charlie Sheen, who portrayed the character Charlie Crawford.^[30] Altogether, 145 episodes were made. Fox also served as an executive producer during his time on the show, alongside co-creators Bill Lawrence and Gary David Goldberg.^[30]

In 2004, Fox guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama Scrubs as Dr. Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.^[31] The series was created by Spin City creator Bill Lawrence.^[31] In 2006, he appeared in four episodes of Boston Legal as a lung cancer patient.^[32] The producers brought him back in a recurring role for Season three, beginning with the season premiere. Fox was nominated for an Emmy Award for best guest appearance.^[12] In 2009, he appeared in five episodes of the television series Rescue Me which earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.^[12] Since 2000 Fox has released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). In 2010, Fox returned to television as a guest star in the US drama The Good Wife and has since appeared in four more episodes as rival attorney, Louis Canning. ^[33]

He made an appearance at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver, Canada, and delivered comedic monologues, along with William Shatner and Catherine O'Hara, in the "I am Canadian" part of the show.^[34]

Along with Tatjana Patitz, Fox appears in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG calendar, photographed by Bryan Adams in New York City in the summer of 2010.^[35]

Despite a soundalike voicing his character of Marty McFly in the 2011 Back to the Future episodic adventure game, Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of McFly alongside Christopher Lloyd. Fox makes a special guest appearance in the final episode of the series as an elder version of Marty, as well as his great-grandfather Willie McFly.^[36][37]

Personal life[link]

The Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby

Fox married actress Tracy Pollan on July 16, 1988, at West Mountain Inn in Arlington, Vermont. The couple have four children: Sam Michael (born May 30, 1989), twins Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances (born February 15, 1995), and Esmé Annabelle (born November 3, 2001). Fox holds dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship.^[38] On February 28, 2010, Fox provided a light-hearted segment during the 2010 Winter Olympics' closing ceremony in Vancouver, Canada, wherein he expressed how proud he is to be Canadian.^[39] On June 4, 2010, the City of Burnaby, British Columbia honoured Fox by granting him the Freedom of the City.^[6]

Illness and activism[link]

Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year.^[29] After his diagnosis, Fox began drinking more heavily than in the past; however, he sought help and stopped drinking altogether.^[40] In 1998, he decided to go public with his condition, and since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research.^[3] His foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease, including embryonic stem cell studies.^[3]

Fox manages the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease with the drug Sinemet,^[41] and he also had a thalamotomy in 1998.^[42]

His first book, Lucky Man, focused on how, after seven years of unacceptance of the disease, he set up the Michael J Fox Foundation, stopped drinking and began to be an advocate of PD sufferers.^[43]

In Lucky Man, Fox wrote that he did not take his medication prior to his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 1998;

In an interview with NPR in April 2002,^[41] Fox explained what he does when he becomes symptomatic during an interview;

In 2006, Fox starred in a campaign ad for then-Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill in her 2006 Senate campaign against incumbent Jim Talent, expressing her support for stem cell research. In the ad, he visibly showed the effects of his Parkinson's medication;

The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful and talked about political advertisements in years" and polls indicated that the commercial had a measurable impact on the way voters voted, in an election that McCaskill won.^[47] His second book, Always Looking Up: The Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist, describes his life between 1999 and 2009, with much of the book centered on how Fox got into campaigning for stem-cell research.^[43] On March 31, 2009, Fox appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Dr. Oz to publicly discuss his condition as well as his book, his family and his prime-time special which aired May 7, 2009 (Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist).^[48]

His work led him to be named one of the 100 people "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 by Time magazine.^[49] On March 5, 2010, Fox received an honorary doctorate in medicine from Karolinska Institutet for his contributions to research in Parkinson's disease.^[50] He also has received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of British Columbia.^[51]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Video games 

Back to the Future: The Game (2011): Willie McFly, Future Marty McFly – Voice only, video game, Episode 5: "Outatime"

Producer[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Canada's Walk of Fame

• 2000: Inducted, Canada's Walk of Fame^[52]

Hollywood Walk of Fame

• 2002: Star on the Walk of Fame – 7021 Hollywood Blvd.^[53]

Emmy Awards^[12]

• 1985: Nominated, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
• 1986: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
• 1987: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
• 1988: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
• 1989: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
• 1997: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
• 1998: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
• 1999: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
• 2000: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
• 2006: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Boston Legal
• 2009: Won, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Rescue Me
• 2011: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series- The Good Wife

Golden Globe Awards^[13]

• 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
• 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy/Musical – Back to the Future
• 1987: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
• 1989: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
• 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
• 1998: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
• 1999: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
• 2000: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City

Screen Actors Guild Awards^[28]

• 1999: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
• 2000: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City

Saturn Awards

• 1985: Won, Best Actor – Back to the Future^[54]

People's Choice Awards

• 1997: Won, Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series^[28]
• 2012: Nominated, Favorite TV Guest Star - The Good Wife

Satellite Awards

• 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City^[55]
• 1998: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City^[56]
• 1999: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City^[57]

Honorary Degrees

• 2008: Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, New York University^[58]
• 2008: Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of British Columbia^[59]
• 2010: Honoris causa doctorate, Karolinska Institutet^[1]

Grammy Awards^[60]

• 2010: Won, Best Spoken Word Album – Always Looking Up: Adventures of An Incurable Optimist

Influential Canadian Expat Award

• 2009: Awarded "Most Influential Canadian Expat", Canadian Expat Association^[61]

Goldene Kamera

• 2011: Goldene Kamera für Lebenswerk (Lifetime Achievement Award), German film and TV award.^[62]

Books[link]

• Fox, Michael J. (2002). Lucky Man: A Memoir. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6764-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=lr_6bduXfpAC&dq=michael+j+fox 
• Fox, Michael J. (2009). Always Looking Up: The adventures of an Incurable Optimist. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-0338-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=vIQLPwAACAAJ&dq=michael%20j%20fox 
• Fox, Michael J. (2010). A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-2386-8. http://books.google.com/?id=8hHRQwAACAAJ&dq=michael%20j%20fox 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michael J. Fox

• Michael J. Fox at the Internet Movie Database
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
• FRONTLINE: Interview with Michael J. Fox Fox's perspective on living with Parkinson's. Posted Jan. 29. 2009

Katie Couric
Couric at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Katherine Anne Couric (1957-01-07) January 7, 1957 (age 55) Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Education	University of Virginia (B.A.)
Occupation	Television journalist
Years active	1979–present
Notable credit(s)	The Today Show Dateline NBC CBS Evening News 60 Minutes Katie (2012) @katiecouric (on CBS News website) Katie's Take (for Yahoo and ABC News)
Salary	$40,000,000 annually
Spouse	Jay Monahan (1989–1998; his death)
Children	Elinor Tully "Ellie" Monahan Caroline Couric Monahan
Parents	John Martin Couric Jr. Elinor Tullie (née Hene)

Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric (born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and author. She serves as special correspondent for ABC News, contributing to ABC World News, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, This Week and primetime news specials. Starting on September 6, 2012, she will host Katie, a syndicated daytime talk show produced by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. She has anchored the CBS Evening News, reported for 60 Minutes, and hosted Today and reported for Dateline NBC. She was the first solo female anchor of a weekday evening news program on one of the three traditional USA broadcast networks. Couric's first book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives was a New York Times best-seller.

As of May 2012, Couric also has a web show for ABC News, entitled Katie's Take, airing weekly on Yahoo.

Early life and career[link]

Couric was born in Arlington, Virginia, the daughter of Elinor Tullie (née Hene), a homemaker and part-time writer, and John Martin Couric Jr., a public relations executive and news editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the United Press in Washington, D.C. Her mother was Jewish, but Couric was raised Presbyterian.^[1][2] Couric's maternal grandparents, Bert Hene and Clara L. Froshin, were the children of Jewish immigrants from Germany.^[3] In a report for Today, she traced her paternal ancestry back to a French orphan who immigrated to the U.S. in the nineteenth century and became a broker in the cotton business.

Couric attended Arlington Public Schools: Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Middle School, and Yorktown High School^[4] and was a cheerleader.^[5] As a high school student, she was an intern at Washington, D.C. all-news radio station WAVA. She enrolled at her father's alma mater,^[6] the University of Virginia, in 1975 and was a Delta Delta Delta sorority sister. Couric served in several positions at UVA's award-winning daily newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. During her fourth year at UVA, Couric was chosen to live as Head Resident (RA) of The Lawn, the heart of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village.^[7] She graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in English with a focus on American Studies.^[8]

Television career[link]

Career beginnings[link]

Couric's first job in 1979 was at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., later joining CNN as an assignment editor. Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as a general-assignment reporter for WTVJ in Miami, Florida. During the following two years, she reported for WRC-TV, the NBC owned-and-operated station in Washington, D.C., work which earned her an Associated Press award and an Emmy.

NBC[link]

Couric joined NBC News in 1989 as Deputy Pentagon Correspondent. From 1989 to 1991, Couric was an anchor substitute and filled in for Bryant Gumbel as host of Today, Jane Pauley, and Deborah Norville as co-anchor of Today, Garrick Utley, Mary Alice Williams, and Maria Shriver as co-host of Sunday Today, and John Palmer, Norville, and Faith Daniels as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise. She also subbed for Daniels, Norville, and John Palmer as the news anchor on Today.

[edit] Today (1991–2006)

In 1989, Couric joined Today as national political correspondent, becoming a substitute co-host in February 1991 when Norville had a baby. Norville did not return and Couric became permanent co-anchor on April 5, 1991.^[9] In 1994, she became co-anchor of Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric—an evening time weekly TV newsmagazine with Tom Brokaw—which was later canceled and folded into part of Dateline NBC, where her reports appeared regularly and she was named contributing anchor. She remained at Today for fifteen years with co-host Matt Lauer and NBC News until May 31, 2006, when she announced that she would be going to CBS to anchor the CBS Evening News, becoming the first solo female anchor of the "big three" weekday nightly news broadcasts.^[8]

While at NBC, Katie Couric occasionally filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. From 1989-1993, Couric also filled in for Maria Shriver on the Sunday Edition of NBC Nightly News and for Garrick Utley on the Saturday Edition of NBC Nightly News.

Couric hosted or worked on a number of news specials, like Everybody's Business: America's Children in 1995. Similar entertainment specials were Legend to Legend Night: A Celebrity Cavalcade in 1993, and Harry Potter: Behind the Magic in 2001. Couric has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. She has broadcast with Bob Costas, beginning with the 2000 Summer Olympics. She did not co-host the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy because of a scheduling conflict with a live taping of Today. Brian Williams co-hosted with Bob Costas instead.

Couric has interviewed many international political figures and celebrities during her career, including Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and First Lady Barbara Bush. John F. Kennedy Jr. gave Couric his first and last interviews. Couric has won multiple television reporting awards through her career, including the prestigious Peabody Award for her series Confronting Colon Cancer. Couric has also interviewed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Senator Hillary Clinton (her first television interview), Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and Laura Bush.^[9]

On May 28, 2008, Couric made a return visit to Today since leaving almost two years to the very day back on May 31, 2006. She made this appearance alongside her evening counterparts, NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams & ABC World News' Charles Gibson, to promote an organization called Stand Up to Cancer and raise cancer awareness on all three major television networks; ABC, CBS & NBC. Couric, Gibson and Williams made appearances together on all three major network morning shows, first on CBS's Early Show, then on NBC's Today and finally on ABC's Good Morning America.^[8]

CBS[link]

[edit] CBS Evening News (2006–2011)

Couric in 2007

Couric announced on April 5, 2006 that she would be leaving Today.^[10] CBS officially confirmed later the same day that Couric would become the new anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News with her first broadcast set for September 5, 2006. Couric would also contribute to 60 Minutes and anchor prime time news specials for CBS. Couric earned $15 million per year while at CBS, a salary that made her the highest paid journalist in the world, a salary similar to Matt Lauer's at NBC and Barbara Walter's at ABC.^[11]

Couric made her first broadcast as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on September 5, 2006. The program featured a new set, new graphics, and a new theme composed by prolific movie score composer James Horner.^[12] The program also featured a voice-over from Walter Cronkite. It was the first evening newscast to be simulcast live on the internet and local radio stations.

CBS heavily hyped Couric's arrival at the network, hoping to revive the evening news format, but there were suggestions that it backfired.^[13] Although there was much interest during her first week as anchor,^[14] CBS Evening News remained a distant third in viewership, behind ABC World News and NBC Nightly News.^[15][16][17] While Couric's ratings improved over her predecessor, Bob Schieffer, ABC's Charles Gibson widened World News' lead over Evening News.^[18]

The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric won the 2008 and 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast. On March 29, 2009, Couric was awarded with the Emmy Governor's Award for her broadcasting career.

She has interviewed presidents, cabinet members, celebrities, and business executives around the world, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former President George W. Bush, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, John Edwards just after their announcement that Mrs. Edwards' cancer had returned, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Norah Jones and Michael J. Fox.^[19]