Jerry Dunphy
Also Known As: The Dean of Los Angeles Broadcasting
Biography: Jerry Dunphy was an American television news anchor in the Los Angeles/Southern California media market. He was best known for his intro "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening." After serving as a pilot in World War II, Dunphy began his broadcast television career in 1953. He was the news director/anchor at then-CBS owned-and-operated (O&O) WXIX (now CW affiliated WVTV) in Milwaukee. Dunphy also was a sports reporter at another CBS O&O, WBBM-TV, in Chicago. Dunphy also served as a color commentator for Green Bay Packers telecasts on CBS in 1956. In 1960, Dunphy took over the anchor chair at the Los Angeles CBS O&O station KNXT (now KCBS-TV), where he anchored Los Angeles' most popular newscast, later titled "The Big News", a program that often attracted a quarter of Los Angeles television owners, ratings unheard of in the market. He was still popular when fired in 1975, yet KNXT sought to adopt a faster-paced, "Eyewitness News" type format. It was then that Dunphy joined KABC-TV, bringing it to the top of the ratings, making it Southern California's news leader. Since Dunphy's unceremonious firing, Channel 2 never recovered in the ratings, until the mid-2000s. Dunphy left KABC-TV in 1989 and joined the upstart KCAL-TV that July (when it was still KHJ-TV) as one of the pioneering anchors of the three-hour primetime news format, "Prime 9 News". He returned to KCBS-TV in 1995 and remained until 1997 as an anchorman, and rejoined KCAL-TV in 1997, where he remained until his death. Dunphy was one of the first newscasters to interview President Richard Nixon after his resignation in 1974. He would later sit down with Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford. Dunphy also performed regular cameos in L.A.-based films including Warning Shot, Night of the Lepus, Oh God!, Short Cuts, The Jerky Boys and Independence Day, as well as in episode 6 of Batman Film Way,,,Way Out, and is considered to be the inspiration for two fictional television characters: Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Kent Brockman on The Simpsons (the director of "Krusty Gets Busted", Brad Bird, designed the character and modeled him after anchorman Ted Koppel. Dunphy was also a songwriter. One of his songs was called, appropriately, "From the Desert to the Sea" and was recorded by country music star T.G. Sheppard. On May 9, 1984, Dunphy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in the television industry, located at 6669 Hollywood Boulevard. He succumbed to a heart attack on May 20, 2002.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Birthday: June 09, 1921
Deathday: May 20, 2002
Adult: No
Gender: Male
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Known For:
Short Cuts
Overview: Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-09-05
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Impulse
Overview: A Los Angeles vice cop, caught between her undercover role as a sex worker and her personal relationships, is thrown into a web of murder and deceit.
Genres: Thriller Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-04-06
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Bulworth
Overview: A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.
Genres: Comedy Drama Crime Thriller Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-05-15
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Warning Shot
Overview: Hounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman works his own case.
Genres: Crime Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-01-18
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The Love Machine
Overview: An ambitious TV newscaster has an affair with the wife of a network executive to get a promotion.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-08-14
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The Great Quake Hazard Hunt
Overview: Educational video with Chip and Dale showing children how earthquakes happen and how to prepare for them at home and at school.
Genres: Family Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-10-18
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Independence Day: The ID4 Invasion
Overview: A "mockumentary" of the alien invasion during Independence Day. Barry Nolan hosts the programme, the first 9 minutes of which are a spoof news report of the events of the film. The middle bit is a discussion of the film by cast and crew, and at the end various scientists and politicians discuss what would happen if real aliens arrive on Earth.
Genres: Science Fiction Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-06-30
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Independence Day
Overview: Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.
Genres: Action Adventure Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-06-25
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Pauly Shore Is Dead
Overview: Hollywood comedian/actor Pauly Shore loses everything: his house, nobody in Hollywood wants to represent him, he moves back home with his mom and is now parking cars at the Comedy Store. Then one night when he's up in his mom's loft, a dead famous comedian appears who tells Pauly to kill himself cause he'll go down as a comedic genius who died before his time. Pauly then fakes his own death, and the media goes crazy.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2003-03-11
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Oh, God!
Overview: When God appears to an assistant grocery manager as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1977-10-07
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Kitten with a Whip
Overview: Straitlaced senatorial hopeful David Stratton has no idea what he's in for when he arrives home from a trip to find sexy teen Jody curled up asleep in his daughter's bed. Soon, delinquent Jody is holding David -- and his plush suburban home -- hostage while she hides out from the cops and throws wild parties with her beatnik pals. David, terrified of scandal, agrees to drive Jody and her friends to Mexico, a decision he regrets when the ride gets out of control.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1964-11-04
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Hard to Kill
Overview: Mason Storm, a 'go it alone' cop, is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-02-09
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Jimmy Hollywood
Overview: Jimmy Alto is an actor wannabe who stumbles into the role of a lifetime. He becomes a vigilante crime-fighter, aided by his sidekick William, who has suffered a head wound and has problems with short-term memory. Jimmy's vigilante alter ego soon becomes a media wonder--but Jimmy remains a total unknown and his long-suffering girl friend Lorraine is getting fed up with the whole situation.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-03-30
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Beverly Hills Cop III
Overview: When his boss is killed, Detroit cop Axel Foley finds evidence that the murderer had ties to a California amusement park called Wonder World. Returning to sunny Beverly Hills once more, Foley reunites with Detective Billy Rosewood to solve the case. Along with Billy's new partner, Detective Jon Flint, they discover that Wonder World is being used as a front for a massive counterfeiting ring.
Genres: Action Comedy Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-05-24
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Night of the Lepus
Overview: Rancher Cole Hillman is fed up of rabbits plaguing his fields. Zoologist Roy Bennett conducts an experiment to curb their population, but it gives rise to giant rabbits that terrorise the town.
Genres: Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1972-10-04
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Mirage
Overview: In New York City, David Stillwell struggles to recover his memory before the people who are trying to kill him succeed. Who is he, who are they, and why is he surrounded by murder?
Genres: Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1965-10-29
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