Edward Rudolph “Ed” Bradley, Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006)

By Laurence Aikens, Professional Actor at SAG-AFTRA

Edward Rudolph “Ed” Bradley, Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was a journalist, known for 26 years of award-winning work on 60 Minutes. He covered the fall of Saigon, was the first Black television correspondent to cover the White House, and anchored his news broadcast, CBS Sunday Night News with Ed Bradley. He received several awards for his work including the Peabody, the National Association of Black Journalists Lifetime Achievement Award, Radio Television Digital News Association Paul White Award, and 19 Emmy Awards.

He graduated from Cheyney State College graduating with a BA in Education. His first job was teaching sixth grade at the William B. Mann Elementary School in Philadelphia’s Wynnefield community. He moonlighted at the old WDAS studios, working for free and, later, for minimum wage. He programmed music, read the news, and covered basketball games and other sports.

He did over 500 stories, covering nearly every possible type of news, from “heavy” segments on war, politics, poverty, and corruption, to lighter biographical pieces, or stories on sports, music, and cuisine. He interviewed Howard Stern, Laurence Olivier, Subcomandante Marcos, Timothy McVeigh, Neil Armstrong, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Bill Bradley, the 92-year-old George Burns, and Michael Jordan, he conducted the first television interview with Bob Dylan in 20 years. Some of his quirkier moments included playing blackjack with Ray Charles, interviewing a Soviet general in a Russian sauna, and having a practical joke played on him by Muhammad Ali. His favorite segment on 60 Minutes was when he interviewed 64-year-old singer Lena Horne. He said, “If I arrived at the pearly gates and Saint Peter said, ‘What have you done to deserve entry?’ I’d just say, ‘Did you see my Lena Horne story?’”