Marie Torre (born Torregrossa; June 17, 1924,

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

– January 3, 1997) was a television personality who appeared on

KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed CW affil ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

from 1962 to 1977. She was the station's first woman anchor and one of the first female anchors in the United States. She showed great versatility, easily moving from covering hard news stories, including the kidnapping of

Peggy Ann Bradnick The kidnapping of Peggy Ann Bradnick took place near Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, on May 11, 1966. Bradnick, who was 17 years old at the time, was kidnapped by William Diller Hollenbaugh and held captive for seven days before she was rescued by Penn ...

Shade Gap, Pennsylvania Shade Gap is a borough in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 105 at the 2010 census. Geography Shade Gap is located in southeastern Huntingdon County at (40.180107, -77.865434). It sits at the eastern base of Sha ...

, in May 1966, to interviewing such notables and newsmakers as President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

and

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was married to Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his death. As an advocate for African-American equality, she w ...

. She hosted a daily interview talk show, ''Contact'', later renamed ''The Marie Torre Show'', as well as public affairs programming on KDKA-TV. She served as the station's entertainment critic, including everything from motion pictures to live theatre productions, such as the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Earlier in her career, she gained some notoriety when, as a reporter for the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'', she refused to name the source of comments critical of actress

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

. During a landmark court case, Garland v. Torre, Torre was sentenced to 10 days imprisonment for

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

. She appeared three times on the children's show, ''

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001, and was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. The series ''Misterogers'' debut ...

''. After 1977, Marie Torre returned to New York City.

Honors and legacy

Carlow University Carlow University is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1929 by the Sisters of Mercy. Carlow's thirteen athletic teams are the Celtics, a reflection of the university's Irish heritage and roots. In 201 ...

in Pittsburgh sponsors the Marie Torre Memorial Lecture Series.

Personal life

Her daughter,

Roma Torre Roma Torre (born April 20, 1958) is an American TV journalist and theater critic. She is best known for her time at cable news channel NY1, where she was a lead news presenter for over 28 years. Torre previously served as an anchor for NY1’s m ...

, is also in the news business: she was an anchor and theater critic for New York cable news channel

NY1 NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The channe ...

References

External links

*
Short version of Garland episode
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080115062217/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,868914,00.html The Girl Who Said Nobr>Protecting The Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torre, Marie 1924 births 1997 deaths KDKA people American television journalists American women television journalists People from Brooklyn Place of death missing American people of Italian descent Journalists from New York City

Honors and legacy

Personal life

See also

References

External links