Bree Walker (born Patricia Lynn Nelson; February 26, 1953) is an American

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

host, actress, and disability-rights activist. She gained fame as the first on-air American television network

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

with

ectrodactyly Ectrodactyly, split hand, or cleft hand (derived from Greek ''ektroma'' 'abortion' and ''daktylos'' 'finger') involves the deficiency or absence of one or more central digits of the hand or foot and is also known as split hand/split foot malformat ...

. Walker worked as a news anchor and reporter in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Walker was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

and raised in

Austin, Minnesota Austin is a city in, and the county seat of, Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River and has two artificial lakes, East Side Lake and Mill Po ...

. She inherited

, a rare

genetic condition A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosomal abnormality. Although polygenic disorders ...

which causes missing digits and

syndactyly Syndactyly is a condition wherein two or more digits are fused together. It occurs normally in some mammals, such as the siamang and diprotodontia, but is an unusual condition in humans. The term is from Greek σύν, ''syn'' 'together' and δάκ� ...

, which causes fused digits.

TV and radio

Established and well into her career at the ABC affiliate

KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...

Channel 10 in San Diego, Walker decided to go public with her ectrodactyly after previously keeping her hands hidden inside a pair of glove-like prosthetic ones. With them now clearly visible, she continued her newscasting career at KGTV, then moving to the rock station

KPRI KPRI (91.3 FM) is a community radio station licensed to serve the community of Pala, California, United States. The station is owned by the Pala Band of Mission Indians. The station began operating under program test authority in December 2010 ...

FM. She started her television career in 1980 at KGTV as a consumer advocacy reporter.

Acting

Walker has also dabbled in acting, appearing as herself in the end-of-the-world science-fiction thriller, '' Without Warning'' (credited as Bree Walker-Lampley but referred to on screen as Bree Walker), and as television reporter, Wendy Sorenson, in '' The Chase''. She also guest-starred on an episode of the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

children's series, ''

Reading Rainbow ''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterwards PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 3 ...

'', to talk about her disability. While watching the 2003 season of ''

Carnivàle ''Carnivàle'' () is an American television series set in the United States Dust Bowl during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The series, created by Daniel Knauf, ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005. In tracing the lives of disparate ...

'', an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

television series about a Depression-era carnival traveling through the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

, Walker noticed that no cast member had

. She requested, created, auditioned and won the role of Sabina the Scorpion Lady. Her portrayal of Sabina appeared in three episodes during the 2005 season. She showcased her webbed hands as the series probed public attitudes toward persons with highly visible disabilities. She based Sabina on characters she knew existed in the 1920s and 1930s carnival

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten seq ...

s with names like "Lobster Girl" or " Lobster Boy." These were typically the best jobs people with ectrodactyly could have, with most others being hidden away. Walker furthered her acting career in 2006 by appearing as an inspirational woman with

on the fourth-season premiere of ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

''. Walker shares the on-camera narrator duties with

Jon Elliott Jon Elliott is an American liberal talk radio personality, formerly featured on Air America Radio. Business experience Prior to his radio, TV, and film career, Elliott served as the chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also ...

for the feature-length documentary film, '' Save KLSD: Media Consolidation and Local Radio'', which was first screened in April 2012. It looks at the shrinking number of corporations that control the majority of what Americans watch and listen to on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. It was over four years in the making and was produced by

Jon Monday Jon Monday (born 1947 in San Jose, California) is an American producer and distributor of CDs and DVDs across an eclectic range of material such as Swami Prabhavananda, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Huston Smith, Chalmers Johnson, and Ch ...

and Jennifer Douglas, distributed by mondayMEDIA. She is also in the film as an expert, speaking at a media reform conference.

Purchase of Camp Casey

In June 2007, it was announced that Walker had purchased

Cindy Sheehan Cindy Lee Sheehan ( Miller; born July 10, 1957) is an American anti-war activist,Geraghty, Jim (2011-05-02)Cindy Sheehan: ‘If you believe the newest death of OBL, you’re stupid.’''National Review''. Retrieved May 2, 2011. whose son, U.S. Arm ...

's " Camp Casey" site in Crawford, Texas for $87,000, in response to Sheehan's May 26, 2007 announcement that she would be selling the property and ending her antiwar activities. Sheehan handed the deed to Walker during her June 9, 2007, broadcast of "The Bree Walker show." Walker has preserved the property as a peace memorial and garden and keeps it open to antiwar protesters. It is featured prominently on Walker's website.

Personal life

Walker has been married and divorced three times. She has a daughter named Andrea Layne Walker (born August 12, 1988) with her second husband, independent film and video producer Robert Walker, and a son named Aaron James Lampley with her third husband, news anchor and sportscaster

Jim Lampley James Lampley (born April 8, 1949) is an American sportscaster, news anchor, film producer, and restaurant owner. He was best known as a blow-by-blow announcer on ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' for 30 years. He also had covered a record 14 O ...

. Her surname is taken from her second husband. She and her children were featured on an episode of

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's ''My Unique Family''; she refuses to answer questions about rumors that she has silicone lip implants. Her son and daughter both have ectrodactyly; she reacted very strongly on her blog to Oprah Winfrey's implication that a "normal" child would have all their fingers and their toes.

Honors and awards

Walker was nominated and inducted into the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame in 2010 a collaboration between

Women's Museum of California The Women's Museum of California (WMC) is a nonprofit museum located in San Diego, California and dedicated to women's history. It was first organized under the names the Women's History Reclamation Project and then the Women's History Museum and ...

, Commission on the Status of Women,

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

Women's Center, and

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

Women's Studies.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Bree American radio personalities American television actresses American television reporters and correspondents American film actresses Television anchors from New York City Television anchors from Los Angeles Actresses from San Diego 1953 births Living people Television anchors from San Diego Disability rights activists from the United States American women television journalists 21st-century American women Television presenters with disabilities