Sir David Frost, broadcaster and writer, dies at 74

BBC ^ | 9/01/2013

[iowamark]

Veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost has died at the age of 74 after a suspected heart attack while on board a cruise ship.

A family statement said he had been giving a speech aboard the Queen Elizabeth on Saturday night.

Sir David's career spanned journalism, comedy writing and daytime television presenting, including The Frost Report.

Internationally, he will be remembered for his revealing interviews with former US President Richard Nixon.

[iowamark]

Frost interviews Nixon 1977:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4DBXFDOtg

[SamAdams76]

Here's a link to a good article about David Frost. If I'm not mistaken, Frost also did an interview in 1980 with Ted Kennedy that brought up Chappadquiddick - which did some damage to his presidential campaign.

[csvset]

As i recall he dated Diahann Carroll for several years.

[iowamark]

That was Roger Mudd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDh2iKzBh4E

[Eccl 10:2]

Loved him when I was a kid, Friday nights on TW3. Some really funny stuff on there.

[Ann Archy]

TW3 was my FAVORITE!!!

[raccoonradio]

The Frost Report, Frost with John Cleese and the two Ronnies

[jalisco555]

He had a 1 1/2 hour interview show in NYC in the late 60’s (WNEW?). I remember him eviscerating Adam Clayton Powell. He had Jack Benny on another time and delightedly played Benny’s straight man for the entire show. The audience was in stitches.

[Tucker39]

Frost covered a wide area. I once watched a very interesting interview he did with Garth Brooks. Yes, Brooks is somewhat of an anal orifice; but to my knowledge, that component of his persona didn’t surface until well along in his career.....and he really DID bust his butt to put on an exciting show, back in the day.

[InvisibleChurch]

Am I the only one thinking it odd that only one reporter actually quizzed Uncle Teddy about that?

[elcid1970]

First saw David Frost on TW3. He would tease the adverts with his own parody of their product. Priceless.

[SamAdams76]

Correct about Garth Brooks, his 1989-1992 period was how I choose to remember him. His first three albums were phenomenal and he put on some incredible shows, that at the time, were criticized for being more rock and roll than country. But for better or worse, he changed country music and helped make it the top musical genre - eventually country music would become the top radio format in the country. Even places like Boston and New York would feature country music radio stations, where they had none before.

But it all fell apart (for Garth Brooks) in late 1992 when he released "The Chase" album. He transformed himself into the Barry Manilow of country music with insipid, syrupy ballads and descended into obnoxious bouts of political correctness (to wit: the "I Shall Be Free" single). Not to mention that awful "Chris Gaines" experiment.

He went Hollywood and tried to become one of the "beautiful people." He also became full of himself, wrecking his marriage and personal life in the process.

But give him his due, he is one of the top solo recording artists in history and in terms of record sales, is right up there with Elvis and The Beatles. I was hoping he'd turn it around artistically but he never regained that spark from those first three albums.

Also, thanks to the other poster to pointed out that it was Roger Mudd who had that Ted Kennedy interview.

[oh8eleven]

Am I the only one thinking it odd that only one reporter actually quizzed Uncle Teddy about that?
That's still one more that would do it today.

[Old Yeller]

I met David Frost over 30 years ago when he spoke at my university. He autographed one of my textbooks.

[Nextrush]

Back when I was a teenager Frost was hot on television in this country, a daytime talk host syndicated on hundreds of local stations.

He ended up doing a Sunday morning show in the UK later on.

More recently he was doing a show for Al Jazeera.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks iowamark, additional:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3061292/posts

[Tucker39]

I recall, one topic that came up was Brooks’ single, “Friends in Low Places.” Frost questioned him whether that wasn’t a bit edgy for the day. Brooks replied that various people close to him at the time actually advised him not to do it; but he did anyhow and it was a smash.