| First Name |
Alistair
|
| Last Name |
Cooke
|
| Full Name at Birth |
Alfred Alistair Cooke
|
| Alternative Name |
Alistair Cooke KBE, Alistair Cooke`s America, Alfred Cooke, Sir Alistair Cooke, “The Alistair Cooke Suite”, “Alistair Beagle”
|
| Birthday |
20th November, 1908
|
| Birthplace |
Salford, Lancashire, England, UK
|
| Died |
30th March, 2004
|
| Place of Death |
New York City, New York, USA
|
| Cause of Death |
Lung And Bone Cancer
|
| Buried |
New York's Central Park, New York City, USA
|
| Build |
Slim
|
| Eye Color |
Blue
|
| Hair Color |
Brown - Dark
|
| Distinctive Feature |
British (until 1941) American (from 1941), when he was 33 years old..., His Times of London obituary called him a "proto-type mid-Atlantic man: perceived in Britain as the best sort of sophisticated American and in the United States as the very model of an English gentleman"..., Born Alfred Alistair Cooke, he used his middle name as his first name from 1930, when he was 22 years old..., His father was a Methodist lay preacher and metalsmith of Northern English origin; his mother's family were of Irish Protestant origin..., Retired at age 95 from hosting ''Letter from America'', on BBC World Service, only because of failing health..., Shortly after his death it was discovered that some of his bones had been removed before his body was passed to his family for cremation. Police investigating an illegal trade in bones, used for transplants and sold for thousands of dollars, found that his body was one of many which had been desecrated a New York mortuary..., Best known for his lively and insightful interpretations of American history and culture..., Had a brief period as a Hollywood scriptwriter..., He was an excellent piano player..., His elaborate ''Masterpiece Theatre'' introductions became legendary and were parodied by Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street amongst others...
|
| Zodiac Sign |
Scorpio
|
| Sexuality |
Straight
|
| Ethnicity |
White
|
| Nationality |
American
|
| High School |
Blackpool Grammar School (Blackpool, Lancashire)
|
| University |
Jesus College, Cambridge (2:1 BA degree, English,1930), Yale University (1932–33), Harvard University (1933–34)
|
| Occupation Text |
British/American journalist, writer, television personality and radio broadcaster
|
| Occupation |
Journalist
|
| Claim to Fame |
PBS Masterpiece Theater and BBC Radio 4's Letter from America
|
| Music Genre (Text) |
Biography, Film Criticism, American culture, Film Scriptwriting, American history, British culture
|
| Year(s) Active |
1946 - 2004 (radio host: ''Letter from America'' on BBC World Service), 1956 - 1961 (tv host: ''Omnibus'' on BBC TV), 1972 - 1973 (tv host: ''America'' on BBC TV / NBC), 1971 - 1992 (tv host: ''Masterpiece Theatre'' on PBS), 1952 - 1959 (tv host: ''Omnibus'' on all three major US commercial networks)
|
| Instrument (text) |
Piano
|
| Record Label |
PBS, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, NBC, The Times of London (newspaper), The Manchester Guardian (newspaper), Knopf (book publisher), Granta magazine
|
| Pets |
Charlie Chaplin, William F. Buckley, Jr., Adlai Stevenson
|
| Favorite People |
Greta Garbo, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Robert Cameron, Bing Crosby, Groucho Marx, H. L. Mencken (Baltimore Sun journalist), Bobby Jones (golfer), Joe Louis (boxer)
|
| Favorite Places |
Manhattan, New York, Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, Massachusetts, The Grand Canyon
|
Alistair Cooke KBE (20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-born American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and America: A Personal History of the United States, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre from 1971 to 1992. After holding the job for 22 years, and having worked in television for Cooke retired in 1992, although he continued to present Letter from America until shortly before his death. He was the father of author and folk singer John Byrne Cooke.
