:Robert MacNeil

MacNeil was born in Montreal on January 19, 1931, the son of Margaret Virginia (née Oxner) and Robert A. S. MacNeil, a Royal Canadian Navy officer in World War II and later a Canadian foreign service officer.{{cite news |last1=Davenport |first1=Anne Azzi |last2=Brown |first2=Jeffrey |title=Robert MacNeil, co-founder of NewsHour, dies at 93 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-macneil-co-founder-of-newshour-dies-at-93 |access-date=April 13, 2024 |work=PBS NewsHour |publisher=PBS |date=April 12, 2024 |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412185133/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-macneil-co-founder-of-newshour-dies-at-93 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Rose |first=Mike |date=January 19, 2023 |title=Today's famous birthdays list for January 19, 2023 includes celebrities Dolly Parton, Jodie Sweetin |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/01/todays-famous-birthdays-list-for-january-19-2023-includes-celebrities-dolly-parton-jodie-sweetin.html |access-date=January 19, 2023 |website=The Plain Dealer |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119142137/https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/01/todays-famous-birthdays-list-for-january-19-2023-includes-celebrities-dolly-parton-jodie-sweetin.html |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=MacNeil |first=Robert |title=Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America |publisher=Harvest Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-15-602910-0}} He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, went to boarding school at Rothesay Collegiate School and Upper Canada College, then attended Dalhousie University and later graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa in 1955.

MacNeil began working in the news field at ITV in London, then for Reuters, and then for NBC News as a correspondent in Washington, D.C.{{Cite web |last=Battaglio |first=Stephen |date=April 12, 2024 |title=Robert MacNeil, the stately journalist who brought news to PBS, dies at 93 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-04-12/robert-mcneil-the-journalist-who-brought-news-to-pbs-dies-at-93 |access-date=April 18, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=April 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417225235/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-04-12/robert-mcneil-the-journalist-who-brought-news-to-pbs-dies-at-93 |url-status=live }} He also worked as a news anchor, for WNBC, in New York City.

On November 22, 1963, MacNeil covered President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas for NBC News.{{cite web |date=November 20, 2013 |title=Robert MacNeil remembers the 1963 gunshots that killed President Kennedy |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-macneil-remembers-hearing-the-shots-in-dallas-that-killed-president-kennedy |access-date=April 19, 2024 |publisher=PBS |language=en-US |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411004231/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-macneil-remembers-hearing-the-shots-in-dallas-that-killed-president-kennedy |url-status=live }} After shots rang out in Dealey Plaza, MacNeil, who was with the presidential motorcade, followed crowds running onto the grassy knoll; he appears in a photo taken just moments after the assassination.{{cite web |date=November 6, 2013 |title=Robert MacNeil Reflects on Reporting the JFK Assassination |url=https://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2013/11/robert-macneil-reflects-on-reporting-the-jfk-assassination/ |access-date=April 19, 2024 |website=WNET |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205211159/https://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2013/11/robert-macneil-reflects-on-reporting-the-jfk-assassination/ |url-status=live }} As he was reporting for NBC, MacNeil was at times in relatively close proximity{{YouTube|title=Members Only: "MacNeil/Lehrer on the JFK Assassination"|id=lfEwPBmTF5A}} to his future co-anchor and partner Jim Lehrer, also covering the Kennedy visit and assassination for the Dallas Times Herald, but the two did not meet until several years later, covering the Senate Watergate hearings in Washington, D.C. for PBS.{{Cite web |date=November 11, 2013 |title=Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil reflect on covering JFK's assassination |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/jim-lehrer-and-robert-macneil-reflect-on-covering-jfks-assassination |access-date=April 19, 2024 |publisher=PBS |language=en-US |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418201844/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/jim-lehrer-and-robert-macneil-reflect-on-covering-jfks-assassination |url-status=live }}

In 1967, MacNeil began covering American and European politics for the BBC.{{cite web |last=Lanum |first=Nikolas |date=April 12, 2024 |title=Robert MacNeil, longtime PBS anchorman, dies at 93 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/robert-macneil-longtime-pbs-anchorman-dies-93 |access-date=April 18, 2024 |publisher=Fox News |language=en-US |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418021143/https://www.foxnews.com/media/robert-macneil-longtime-pbs-anchorman-dies-93 |url-status=live }} From 1971 to 1974, he hosted Washington Week in Review, a public affairs television program on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).{{cite web |last=Hautzinger |first=Daniel |date=November 7, 2017 |title=The Stories Behind PBS Shows |url=https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2017/11/07/history-pbs-shows |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=WTTW |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418021138/https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2017/11/07/history-pbs-shows |url-status=live }}

MacNeil rose to fame during his coverage of the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings for PBS, for which he received an Emmy Award. Teamed with Jim Lehrer, the two broadcast and analysed some 250 hours of the hearings in all, sometimes late into the night. This coverage helped lead to and inspire his most famous role, when he joined Lehrer in 1976 to create the PBS daily evening news program The Robert MacNeil Report, later renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and then The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.{{cite web |date=April 12, 2024 |title=Robert MacNeil, longtime anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-macneil-anchor-pbs-newshour-dies-at-93/ |access-date=April 18, 2024 |publisher=CBS News |agency=Associated Press |language=en-US |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418023258/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-macneil-anchor-pbs-newshour-dies-at-93/ |url-status=live }} After serving 20 years on the program, MacNeil retired from his nightly appearances on October 20, 1995; Lehrer anchored the program solo until 2009.{{cite web |date=October 20, 1995 |title=Robert Macneil bows out of PBS's 'Newshour' |url=https://www.deseret.com/1995/10/20/19199851/robert-macneil-bows-out-of-pbs-s-newshour/ |access-date=April 18, 2024 |website=Deseret News |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418023257/https://www.deseret.com/1995/10/20/19199851/robert-macneil-bows-out-of-pbs-s-newshour/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Bryan |first=Dave |date=April 12, 2024 |title=Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93 |url=https://apnews.com/article/robert-macneil-dead-e4ec419d2ad26170280287f0688bb145 |access-date=April 18, 2024 |publisher=Associated Press |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418023257/https://apnews.com/article/robert-macneil-dead-e4ec419d2ad26170280287f0688bb145 |url-status=live }} The program continues as the PBS NewsHour. He remained involved with the news program until 2013 as one of the heads of MacNeil-Lehrer Productions.

In director Michael Almereyda's 2000 modern-day adaptation of Hamlet, MacNeil portrayed the Player King, reimagined as a TV news reporter.{{cite book |last=Worthen |first=W. B. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/shakespeare-performance-studies/retrotech-writing-theatre-and-technologies-of-performance-michael-almereyda-hamlet/52BF127EFF58FF8910C8253B61FB7608 |title=Shakespeare Performance Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9781107295544.004 |isbn=978-1-107-05595-7 |publication-date=July 5, 2014 |at=Chapter 4: Retrotech: writing, theatre, and technologies of performance Michael Almereyda, Hamlet |access-date=April 18, 2024}}{{cite news |last=French |first=Philip |date=December 17, 2000 |title=Hamlet |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/17/philipfrench1 |access-date=April 18, 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418022056/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/17/philipfrench1 |url-status=live }}

After the September 11 attacks, MacNeil called PBS and offered to help. He joined PBS's coverage of the attacks and their aftermath, interviewing reporters and giving his thoughts on the events.

In 2007, MacNeil hosted the PBS television miniseries America at a Crossroads, which presented independently produced documentaries about the "War on Terrorism". The series initially ran from April 15–20, with further episodes later that year.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/arts/television/14stan.html |title=The World Since 9/11, in Detail and Sorrow |work=The New York Times |date=April 14, 2007 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228181723/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/arts/television/14stan.html |url-status=live |last=Stanley |first=Alessandra}}

In a Sesame Street Special Report, muppet parody of the Iran-Contra scandal, MacNeil investigated a "Cookiegate" incident involving the Cookie Monster.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/throwback-thursday-newshours-visits-sesame-street/ |title=Throwback Thursday: NewsHour's visits to Sesame Street |publisher=PBS |date=November 13, 2014 |access-date=September 10, 2017 |archive-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009233317/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/throwback-thursday-newshours-visits-sesame-street/ |url-status=live }} In 1998, for Season 29's "Slimey to the Moon" story arc, MacNeil took the role of co-anchor with Kermit the Frog, as Slimey, Oscar the Grouch's pet worm, and four other worms made a landing on the Moon.{{cite web |url=https://www.deseret.com/1997/12/24/19353239/sesame-street-worm-to-embark-on-space-odyssey |title= Sesame Street Worm to Embark on Space Odyssey |date= December 24, 1997 |access-date=July 10, 2022 |archive-date=July 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710003928/https://www.deseret.com/1997/12/24/19353239/sesame-street-worm-to-embark-on-space-odyssey |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38wxWb0xF9Q |title=Official Sesame Street YouTube Channel |date=December 2014 |via=YouTube |access-date=July 10, 2022 |archive-date=July 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710003859/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38wxWb0xF9Q |url-status=live}}

MacNeil chaired the MacDowell Colony's board of directors from 1993 to 2010.MacDowell Colony Press Release, [http://portablemacdowell.org/#news/chairman-robert-macneil-and-president-carter-wiseman-to-retire-from-macdowe Chairman Robert MacNeil and President Carter Wiseman to Retire from MacDowell Leadership] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208115626/http://portablemacdowell.org/#news/chairman-robert-macneil-and-president-carter-wiseman-to-retire-from-macdowe |date=February 8, 2018 }}, April 15, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2018. He was succeeded by Michael Chabon.{{cite web|first=Carolyn|last=Kellog|date=December 7, 2010|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/michael-chabon-is-the-new-chair-of-the-macdowell-colony-board.html|title=Chabon named chairman of MacDowell Colony board|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 25, 2018|archive-date=February 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225205843/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/michael-chabon-is-the-new-chair-of-the-macdowell-colony-board.html|url-status=live}}

Inspired by his passion for language, he made the nine-part television series The Story of English in 1986 for PBS and the BBC, detailing the development of the English language. The Story of English is also a companion book, also produced in 1986. The book and the television series were written by MacNeil, Robert McCrum, and William Cran.{{cite news |last=Gross |first=John |date=September 26, 1986 |title=Books of the times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/26/books/books-of-the-times-905986.html |access-date=April 19, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419173814/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/26/books/books-of-the-times-905986.html |url-status=live }}

MacNeil became a naturalized American citizen in 1997, and became an Order of Canada officer that same year.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Harrison |date=April 12, 2024 |title=Robert MacNeil, urbane anchor who founded 'PBS NewsHour,' dies at 93 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/04/12/robert-macneil-dead-newshour/ |access-date=April 19, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=April 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240413015811/https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/04/12/robert-macneil-dead-newshour/ |url-status=live }} He was married to Rosemarie Coopland, Jane Doherty, and Donna Nappi Richards MacNeil.{{cite news |date=October 21, 1984 |title=Robert MacNeil Weds Miss Richards |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/21/style/robert-macneil-weds-miss-richards.html |access-date=April 13, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130182216/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/21/style/robert-macneil-weds-miss-richards.html |url-status=live}} With Coopland, he was the father of award-winning theatre scenic designer Ian MacNeil.{{cite news |last=Dullea |first=Georgia |title=At Home With: Robert and Ian MacNeil; A Father and a Son, Growing Up Again |date=May 5, 1994 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/05/garden/at-home-with-robert-and-ian-macneil-a-father-and-a-son-growing-up-again.html?pagewanted=all |page=C1 |access-date=February 18, 2017 |archive-date=January 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106225011/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/05/garden/at-home-with-robert-and-ian-macneil-a-father-and-a-son-growing-up-again.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live}}

MacNeil was known to friends and family as "Robin".

MacNeil died of natural causes at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on April 12, 2024, at the age of 93, confirmed by his daughter Alison MacNeil.{{cite news |last1=Jensen |first1=Elizabeth |date=April 12, 2024 |title=Robert MacNeil, Earnest News Anchor for PBS, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/12/business/media/robert-macneil-dead.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240413015741/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/12/business/media/robert-macneil-dead.html |archive-date=April 13, 2024 |access-date=April 12, 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A19 |volume=173 |issue=60123}}

• 1979: LHD honorary degree from Bates College{{Cite web |url=https://www.bates.edu/president/honorary-degrees/list-of-honorary-degree-recipients/ |title=List of Honorary Degree Recipients |date=April 5, 2016 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |archive-date=December 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211225230/https://www.bates.edu/president/honorary-degrees/list-of-honorary-degree-recipients/ |url-status=live }}
• 1997: Officer of the Order of Canada, one of Canada's highest civilian honors, for being "one of the most respected journalists of our time"{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/host/|title=Host Robert MacNeil Series Host|publisher=PBS|access-date=September 10, 2017|archive-date=October 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020175928/http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/host/|url-status=live}}
• 1990: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association{{cite web |url=http://www.rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |title=Paul White Award |publisher=Radio Television Digital News Association |access-date=May 27, 2014 |archive-date=February 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225052416/http://rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |url-status=dead }}
• 1991: Made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{cite web |title=Robert B. W. MacNeil |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-b-w-macneil |website=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |date=April 12, 2024 |access-date=April 13, 2024}}
• 1999: Television Hall of Fame
• 2008: Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism{{cite news|last1=Arizona State University|title=Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication|url=https://cronkite.asu.edu/about/walter-cronkite-and-asu/walter-cronkite-award|access-date=November 23, 2016|date=January 29, 2009|archive-date=March 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325155545/https://cronkite.asu.edu/about/walter-cronkite-and-asu/walter-cronkite-award|url-status=live}}

MacNeil also wrote books, many of which are about his career as a journalist. After his retirement from NewsHour, he also dabbled in writing novels. His books include:

• The People Machine: The Influence of Television on American Politics (1970). {{isbn|978-0413276704}}.
• Wordstruck: A Memoir (1989) {{isbn|978-0670818716}}.
• Eudora Welty: Seeing Black and White (1990). {{isbn|978-0878054718}}.
• The Way We Were: 1963, the Year Kennedy Was Shot (1991). {{isbn|978-0881844337}}.
• {{cite book |last=MacNeil |first=Robert |title=Burden of Desire |publisher=Nan A. Talese/Doubleday |year=1992 |isbn=9780385420198}}
• The Right Place at the Right Time (1990). {{isbn|978-0140131208}}.
• The Voyage (1995). {{isbn|978-0385469524}}.
• {{cite book |last=Macneil |first=Robert |title=Breaking News (A Novel) |publisher=Nan A. Talese/Doubleday |year=1998 |isbn=9780385420204 }}
• The Story of English with Robert McCrum (accompanied by a PBS documentary miniseries in 1986) {{isbn|978-0142002315}}.
• Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America (2003). {{isbn|978-0385507813}}.
• {{cite book |last1=MacNeil |first1=Robert |last2=Cran |first2=William |date=December 28, 2004 |title=Do You Speak American? |title-link=Do You Speak American? |publisher=Nan A. Talese/Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-51198-8}} (accompanied by a PBS documentary miniseries in 2005)

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/robert-macneil Interview with Robert MacNeil] | The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• [https://www.npr.org/2024/04/19/1245574597/remembering-robert-macneil-longtime-host-of-pbs-newshour "Remembering Robert Macneil, Longtime Host of PBS 'NewsHour{{'"}}], Fresh Air, NPR—two interviews and obituary
• {{C-SPAN|8287}}

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