Morley Safer Dies One Week After Retiring

Morley Safer Dead at 84 | 60 Minutes Reporter Passes Away

ByMarvie Basilan , Christian Post Contributor

May 21, 2016|11:43 am

REUTERS/Stephen Chernin

"60 Minutes" journalist Morley Safer attends the world premiere of new HBO series VEEP in New York City, April 10, 2012.

In what could be one of the most shocking news this week, it has been confirmed that Morley Safer, the veteran CBS correspondent who has done over 900 reports for "60 Minutes," has passed away just a week after retiring.

According to USA. Today, CBS Corp. confirmed that the 84-year-old news veteran passed away in his Manhattan home on Thursday. There were no other details revealed but the network said "Safer was in declining health." His death came as a shock to many as he only started his first few days of retirement.

Safer"s last and final "60 Minutes" report was done in March and a one-hour special was aired on Monday, in honor of his life and career.

Despite the many recognitions and honors given to Safer for his tenured stay in the news industry, he was someone who didn"t expect all the fame and glory. According to CNN, "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager described Safer as a "humble man who never expects attention."

It is worth noting that Safer once obtained the criticism of then president Lyndon Johnson for his reports in the 1960s, particularly his 1965 film report on the Vietnam War. In the documentary, a marine at Cam Ne is seen setting a hut on fire with a cigarette lighter. Johnson apparently didn"t like the idea of Safer"s way of exposing the truths of the war and he demanded that CBS censor Safer"s accounts. Johnson"s efforts in keeping Safer down were in vain.

The Interceptnotes that during his Vietnam cover, Safer said he was told by a Pentagon official that reporters who believe the government are "stupid." The Pentagon then warned CBS that Safer may be in danger as Arthur Sylvester, the Pentagon official in question, was tapped to resign.

All throughout his career, Safer has not only visited many countries such as China and Vietnam but he has also become well-known for his curiosity and dedication to journalism.

Safer is survived by his wife, daughter, siblings and three grandchildren. Watch a short clip of CBS" tribute to the legendary news correspondent below.

Source: http://www.christianpost.com/news/morley-safer-dies-one-week-after-retiring-164366/

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Morley Safer retires on Sunday

Morley Safer Honored By 60 Minutes As He Retires

The official word: Morley Safer, the CBS Newsman and 60 MINUTES longest-serving correspondent, will formally retire this week. His unparalleled career will be celebrated in a special hour directly following this Sundays regular edition of 60 MINUTES. Morley Safer: A Reporters Life will be broadcast Sunday, May 15 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Watch an excerpt.

Safers first season as a regular 60 MINUTES correspondent began in 1970 with a story about the training of U.S. Sky Marshals. His last 60 MINUTES report -- number 919 -- a profile of Danish Architect Bjarke Ingels, was broadcast in March. After more than 50 years of broadcasting on CBS News and 60 MINUTES I have decided to retire. Its been a wonderful run, but the time has come to say goodbye to all of my friends at CBS and the dozens of people who kept me on the air, said Safer. But most of all I thank the millions of people who have been loyal to our broadcast.

Morley has had a brilliant career as a reporter and as one of the most significant figures in CBS News history, on our broadcast and in many of our lives, said Jeff Fager, executive producer of 60 MINUTES. Morleys curiosity, his sense of adventure and his superb writing, all made for exceptional work done by a remarkable man. The best of Morley Safer will be on display in our special broadcast this Sunday. Fager, a personal friend who once produced 60 MINUTES stories for Safer, is interviewed for Morley Safer: A Reporters Life.

The hour-long special traces Safers life from his birth in Toronto to his rise in the 50s and 60s as a distinguished war reporter and then 60 MINUTES correspondent, whose inimitable style, wonderful writing and broad range captivated millions on the most successful broadcast in television history.

Safers record of forty-plus years on primetime television will never be matched.

Safer speaks in interviews about some of the impactful work he is known for, namely his 1965 CBS News dispatch that changed war reporting when it showed Marines torching the homes of Vietnamese villagers, and his 60 MINUTES investigation that freed Lenell Geter, a black man wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Texas. In an appearance on the special, Geter credits Safer with saving his life. The hour recalls his classic profiles, including those of Jackie Gleason, Katharine Hepburn and Anna Wintour.

The program also features interviews with former NBC News Anchor Tom Brokaw and the historian David McCullough, and retired U.S. Brig. Gen. Joe Stringham, who commanded a Green Beret unit Safer accompanied into battle in Vietnam. Safer and Stringham have remained in touch; he remembers their time 51 years ago. [Safer] was all business and he reported what he sawWe looked at eternity right in the face a couple timesand he was as cool as a hog on ice.

Viewers will get a look at the off-camera Morley Safer, too, the man who could play a mean hand of poker, had artistic talent and loved driving a sports car at top speeds. And Safer makes this surprising confession: I really dont like being on televisionIt makes me uneasy. It is not natural to be talking to a piece of machinery. But the money is very good.

Source: http://www.ohio.com/blogs/heldenfiles/the-heldenfiles-online-1.258385/morley-safer-retires-on-sunday-1.682305

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Honoring Morley Safer"s career in only one hour

Morley Safer on art

"I knew this day was coming, and I just never wanted it to arrive." That"s how 60 Minutes Executive Producer Jeff Fager describes this week"s news that correspondent Morley Safer is retiring after 46 years on the broadcast.

To celebrate Safer"s remarkable tenure, Fager called on an in-house dream team - editor Warren Lustig and producers David Browning, Katy Textor and Michelle St. John -- to create the tribute that aired Sunday night.

But how do you condense five decades -- that included more than 900 stories -- into a one-hour broadcast? That was the enormous challenge they faced.

"In the simplest terms, we set out to capture Morley," says Browning, Safer"s longtime producer, in the 60 Minutes Overtime video above. "You want to make sure that what you"re showing is representative of his work and the great variety of work that he"s done."

That work included a groundbreaking 1965 CBS News report from Cam Ne, Vietnam, where Safer showed U.S. Marines torching villagers" huts, and a 60 Minutes story on Lenell Geter, a black man in Texas wrongly accused of armed robbery and later exonerated as a result of Safer"s report.

There were countless stories, on every imaginable topic, each tale uniquely his own. "They were works of art almost," Fager explains. "What makes a story a Morley story is his original voice. And by that I mean not just the timbre, but [also] the quality of the storytelling, his writing."

Fager recalls working as Safer"s producer and bringing him the first draft of a script. Safer would look at it, stare out the window for a few seconds, and then quickly scroll a piece of paper into his trusty typewriter and rework it to his own satisfaction. Textor showed Overtime one of her scripts with a yellow piece of paper taped on where Safer had added his own better-written line.

"He simply had this ability to take it to the next level," Browning explains. "There"s an old saying of Mark Twain"s that the difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. And that"s what Morley did. He was lightning."

While Safer claims his stories were aimed more at the ear than the eye, Fager says the correspondent"s genius was his ability to link the two. "You see lines. You hear lines. You experience while you"re watching a connection with his writing to the picture," he says.

Safer didn"t take himself too seriously, his colleagues say, and liked to entertain his viewers. "Morley"s advice was always: if you can get them to laugh, you"re home free," recalls Textor. "He knew that if he could get a chuckle, you were pretty good. You were going to be okay."

He also had an eye for the absurd. An amateur artist in his spare time, Safer got a kick out of ridiculing pretentiousness in the art world, even if it meant gently mocking collectors as they showed him around. "Morley has always had a great sense of smoking out phonies and smoking out phony stories and things that just aren"t right," Browing says.

Some of Safer"s most memorable pieces were offbeat - or downright bizarre: A story on the popularity of tango in Finland, for instance, or a tale of crime and punishment on Furudu, a tiny island in the Maldives.

"Morley discovered [that] a story could be essentially what you made it to be," says Browning. "If you found an interesting place to go and an interesting cast of characters, it really didn"t matter if there was a huge headline there. As we say in the broadcast, the journey was really the story."

It was a journey Safer enjoyed immensely. "I"ve led a charmed life," he said in an interview. "I mean, in every respect, I"ve led a charmed life as a reporter, as an individual. A lot of it is, as I said, blood, sweat, toil, and tears, but a lot of it is pure, unadulterated luck, and I"ve been a very lucky guy."

Morley Safer"s 2000 interview courtesy of the Television Academy Foundation"s Archive of American Television

Photos courtesy of CBS News, CBS Photo Archive and Morley Safer

The video above was produced by Lisa Orlando, and edited by Lisa Orlando and Will Croxton.

2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-honoring-morley-safer-career/

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