Stephen Henderson Talbot (born February 28, 1949) is an American

TV documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

producer,

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, and longtime contributor to the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

(PBS) and the series ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

''. His more than 40 documentaries include the ''Frontline'' films "The Best Campaign Money Can Buy", "Rush Limbaugh's America", "The Long March of Newt Gingrich", "Justice for Sale", and "News War: What's Happening to the News". Talbot has also written and produced PBS biographies of writers

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

Beryl Markham Beryl Markham (née Clutterbuck; 26 October 1902 – 3 August 1986) was a Kenyan aviator born in England (one of the first bush flying, bush pilots), adventurer, racehorse trainer and author. She was the first person to fly solo, non-stop acros ...

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christophe ...

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, wher ...

and

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...

. He was co-creator and executive producer of the PBS music specials, '' Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders". He began his career in broadcast journalism as a reporter and producer at KQED-TV in San Francisco, where he also contributed feature news stories to the ''

MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of i ...

''. Talbot has worked as a producer and senior producer for the

Center for Investigative Reporting The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is a nonprofit news organization based in Emeryville, California. It was founded in 1977 as the nation’s first nonprofit investigative journalism organization, and has since grown into a multi-platf ...

and for ITVS and the PBS series, ''Independent Lens''. Before becoming a journalist and documentary producer, Talbot was a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is known for his role in the TV

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Leave It to Beaver'', in which he played Gilbert Bates, friend of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (

Jerry Mathers Gerald Patrick Mathers (born June 2, 1948) is an American actor best known for his role in the television sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver'', originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, in which he played the protagonist Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the y ...

Early life and education

Born in Hollywood and raised in

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

, California, Stephen Talbot is the son of

Lyle Talbot Lyle Florenz Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on ...

, a film and TV actor, and Paula Talbot (born Margaret Epple). Stephen graduated in 1966 from Harvard High School in Studio City (now called Harvard-Westlake). In 1970, he graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

in Connecticut, where he studied English and film. He was also very active in

anti-Vietnam War protests Protests against the Vietnam War took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The protests were part of a movement in opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The majority of the protests were in the United States, but some took place ar ...

. He began making films about the anti-war movement, including the November 1969 ''March on Washington'', ''DC III'' (about

Vietnam Veterans Against the War Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is an American tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation founded in 1967 to oppose the United States policy and participation in the Vietnam War. VVAW says it is a national veterans' organization ...

), and ''

Year of the Tiger The Tiger ( 虎) is the third of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Tiger is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 寅. Years and the Five Elements People born ...

'' (filmed in Vietnam). From 1970 to 1973, he worked at the

State University of New York College at Old Westbury The State University of New York College at Old Westbury (SUNY at Old Westbury) is a public college in Old Westbury, New York, with portions in the neighboring town of Jericho, New York. It enrolls just over 5,000 students. History The State Uni ...

, then an experimental college on Long Island. He began as assistant to the school's president and subsequently became a lecturer in the American Studies program.

Acting career

Talbot's first appearance as Gilbert on '' Leave It to Beaver'' was in a 1959 episode called "Beaver and Gilbert", in which he played an insecure new kid in town who is prone to telling tall tales. Early in the series, Gilbert frequently got the hapless Beaver into trouble. But as the series developed, Gilbert became a more genuine friend of the Beav. Talbot guest-starred on many television programs in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including three episodes of ''

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a full-length novel called ''Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with another fic ...

.'' He appeared in two episodes of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'': "

Static Static may refer to: Places *Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica United States * Static, Kentucky and Tennessee *Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming **Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak Science and technology Physics *Static el ...

" and " The Fugitive". In 1960, he played Jimmie Kendall, son of the title character in

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

's ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

'' in the episode, "The Case of the Wandering Widow". In 1959, he was cast as Ab Martin, a grade-school pupil in the episode "The Twister" of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

series, ''

Sugarfoot ''Sugarfoot'' is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with ''Cheyenne'' (first season); ''Cheyenne'' and ''Bronco'' (second season); and ...

'', with

Will Hutchins Will Hutchins (born Marshall Lowell Hutchason; May 5, 1930) is an American actor most noted for playing the lead role of the young lawyer Tom Brewster, in the Western (genre), Western television series ''Sugarfoot'', which aired on American B ...

in the title role. The "twister" in the title of the episode is a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

that wipes out a western town. Talbot also appeared in ''

M Squad ''M Squad'' is an American crime drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's ...

'', ''

The Barbara Stanwyck Show ''The Barbara Stanwyck Show'' is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four in which ...

'', '' The Blue Angels'', '' Men Into Space'', '' Lawman'', '' Wanted: Dead or Alive'', ''

Law of the Plainsman ''Law of the Plainsman'' is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on NBC from October 1, 1959, until September 22, 1960. The character of Native American U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart was introduced in two episodes ("The I ...

'', ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary an ...

'', ''

Mr. Novak ''Mr. Novak'' is an American television dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role as a high school teacher. The series aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965. It won a Peabody Award in 1963. Synopsis The series follows ...

'' and ''

The Lucy Show ''The Lucy Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962 to 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to ''I Love Lucy''. A significant change in cast and premise for the fourth season (1965–1966) divides the program into two distinct ...

''. He appeared in comedy sketches with

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

in the early '60s NBC variety program, ''

The Bob Newhart Show ''The Bob Newhart Show'' is an American sitcom television series produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978, with a total of 142 half-hour episodes over six seasons. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psy ...

''. Talbot played the role of Ronnie Kramer in the

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

The DuPont Show with June Allyson ''The DuPont Show with June Allyson'' (also known as ''The June Allyson Show'') is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959, to April 3, 1961, with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961. The series was ...

'' episode "Hit and Run". On stage, Talbot co-starred as "Sonny" in

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

's ''Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' with

Marjorie Lord Marjorie Lord (née Wollenberg; July 26, 1918 – November 28, 2015) was an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" O'Hara Williams, opposite Danny Thomas's character on ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (also known as ''Make ...

at the

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

. He also played

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...

's ward and nephew in Clark's first movie, ''

Because They're Young ''Because They're Young'' is a 1960 American drama film directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Dick Clark as Neil Hendry, an American high-school teacher who tries to make a difference in the lives of his students. The film co-stars Tuesday Weld, ...

'' (1960). The high school melodrama also starred

Tuesday Weld Tuesday Weld (born Susan Ker Weld; August 27, 1943) is an American actress and model. She began acting as a child and progressed to mature roles in the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Over t ...

and had music by "rock 'n roller"

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American rock and roll guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel- ...

. Having spent his early years in front of the cameras, Talbot abandoned acting for a career as a journalist. In an article for

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

in 1997, he looked back with a sense of humor about his past role on "Beaver":

In the interests of historical accuracy I should say that, yes, Gilbert was a troublemaker and an occasional liar, but my character was certainly no
Eddie Haskell Edward Clark Haskell (also referred to as Edward W. Haskell) is a fictional character on the American television sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver'', which ran on CBS from October 4, 1957, to 1958 and on ABC from 1958 to 1963. He was played by Ken O ...
– that leering teenage hypocrite who spoke unctuously to parents ("Well, hello Mrs. Cleaver, and how is young Theodore today?") and venomously to the Beav ("Hey, squirt, take a powder before I squash you like a bug").... I have spent my adult life trying to conceal my ''Leave It to Beaver'' past or correcting the historical record. Either way the series has become inescapable. When I was a kid, I loved acting; in fact, I badgered my father and mother until they allowed me to work. But how could I have known as an innocent 9-year-old that I was taking part in a television program that would live on for 40 years as an icon for baby boomers? In the early '80s, I turned down an offer to revive my role as Gilbert in a ''Beaver'' reunion series. "I'm trying to establish myself as a documentary filmmaker and an investigative reporter," I explained to the producers. "I can't go back to being Gilbert."

More recently Talbot reflected affectionately on his ''Beaver'' experience in articles and interviews and even in a ''Frontline'' documentary, "Diet Wars."

KQED

In the 1980s, Talbot was a staff reporter and producer at

KQED-TV KQED (channel 9) is a PBS member television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by KQED Inc., alongside fellow PBS station KQEH (channel 54) and NPR member KQED ...

, the PBS affiliate in San Francisco. Early in his career at KQED, Talbot produced two national PBS

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

winners, ''Broken Arrow'', about

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s accidents, and ''The Case of Dashiell Hammett,'' a biography of the crime writer. During his time at KQED, Talbot produced local documentaries, as well as national PBS documentaries such as ''Namibia: Behind the Lines'', ''South Africa Under Siege'' (a portrait of

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

's ANC in exile), and ''The Gospel and Guatemala'' (an investigation with

Elizabeth Farnsworth Elizabeth Farnsworth (born 1943) is an American journalist and author of the memoir, A Train Through Time – A Life, Real and Imagined' (February, 2017). Early life and education Farnsworth was born Elizabeth Fink in Minneapolis, Minnesota, an ...

of Guatemala's presidential strongman

Efraín Ríos Montt José Efraín Ríos Montt (; 16 June 1926 – 1 April 2018) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as ''de facto'' President of Guatemala in 1982–83. His brief tenure as chief executive was one of the bloodiest periods i ...

and his "born again" U.S. supporters). He also wrote and produced (or co-produced with Joan Saffa and Judy Flannery) several hour-long PBS biographies of noted writers, including:

, and

. At KQED, Talbot reported and produced dozens of feature news stories for ''

The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the prog ...

''. After leaving KQED in 1989, Talbot produced and co-wrote a PBS biography of

narrated by newsman Robert MacNeil and actor William Hurt. Talbot has returned to KQED over the years to produce documentary specials. In 1991, he investigated the May 1990 car bomb explosion 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 ...

that nearly killed

Earth First! Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that originated in the Southwestern United States. It was founded in 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar. Today there are Earth First! groups around ...

environmental activists

Judi Bari Judith Beatrice Bari (1949–1997) was an American environmentalist, feminist, and labor leader, primarily active in Northern California after moving to the state in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was the principal organizer of Ear ...

and

Darryl Cherney Darryl Cherney (born 1956) is an American musician and environmental activist. He is a member of the Earth First! environmental movement. Born and raised in New York City, he lives in Humboldt County, California. Cherney has produced five albu ...

. Talbot's documentary, ''Who Bombed Judi Bari?'', critiqued the FBI and

Oakland Police Department The Oakland Police Department (OPD) is a law enforcement agency responsible for policing the city of Oakland, California, United States. As of May 2021, the department employed 709 sworn officers and 371 civilian employees. The department is div ...

's charges against her and Cherney, and raised questions about who was actually responsible for placing the

pipe bomb A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device which uses a tightly sealed section of pipe (material), pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple Explosive material#Low explosives, low explosi ...

in her car. Returning again to KQED in 2001, Talbot wrote and produced a one-hour documentary about

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

as mayor of Oakland, ''The Celebrity and the City''. He had previously produced a KQED documentary about San Francisco Mayor

Art Agnos Arthur Christ Agnos (born Arthouros Agnos; [] September 1, 1938) is an American politician. He served as the 39th Mayor of San Francisco, mayor of San Francisco, California from 1988 to 1992 and as the Regional Head of the United States Department ...

, "The Art of Being Mayor."

''Frontline''

Talbot has had a long association with ''

'', beginning with his documentary on the financing of the 1992 presidential campaign, ''The Best Campaign Money Can Buy''. It won a

DuPont Award DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

. He continued such projects through 2007 with his documentary on the media, ''News War: What's Happening to the News''. His other ''Frontline'' news documentaries include "The Heartbeat of America" (an investigation of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

), "Public Lands, Private Profits" (about gold mining on federal land in the West), "Rush Limbaugh's America", "The Long March of Newt Gingrich", "Why America Hates the Press", "Spying on Saddam", "Justice for Sale", and "The Battle Over School Choice". His " investigative biography" of

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...

– "The Long March of Newt Gingrich" (1995) – drew renewed interest and was posted with updates on the ''Frontline'' website in 2012 when Gingrich made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination. In 2002, Frontline's executive producer David Fanning named Talbot as series editor of ''

Frontline World ''Frontline'' (stylized as FRONTLINE) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety ...

'', ''

's'' international news magazine series. Between 2002 and 2008, Talbot oversaw the editorial content of 30 hour-long television episodes and helped commission and supervise nearly 100 broadcast stories. With colleague Sharon Tiller, Talbot also oversaw the Frontline World website and its

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

-winning online video series, '' Rough Cuts'' Based at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

's Graduate School of Journalism, Talbot and Tiller taught classes and helped identify and mentor the "next generation of video journalists" whose work was showcased on ''Frontline/World''. With reporter Kate Seelye, Talbot also produced a half-hour FRONTLINE/World story, "The Earthquake", about political turmoil in Lebanon and Syria. He was senior producer of the Emmy-winning FRONTLINE/World documentary by Gwynne Roberts, ''Iraq: Saddam's Road to Hell'', an investigation of a massacre of Kurds carried out by Saddam Hussein's regime. ''Frontline World'' won the 2004

Overseas Press Club of America The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain a ...

award for best international TV reporting.

''Sound Tracks''

Talbot was the co-creator and executive producer of '' Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders'', a national PBS music show with host/reporter

Marco Werman Marco Werman is an American radio personality. He is a host, reporter and senior producer in public radio. Werman is the host of Public Radio Exchange's The World (radio program), ''The World''. He took over as full-time host of the program on Ja ...

and reporters Alexis Bloom, Arun Rath and Mirissa Neff. The pilot episode was presented to PBS by Oregon Public Broadcasting, airing in 2010 with stories about the Russian propaganda song " A Man like Putin," Afrobeat legend

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the p ...

, and ''Borat'' music composer

Erran Baron Cohen Erran Boaz Baron Cohen (born May 1968) is an English composer and trumpet player known for collaborations with his younger brother, Sacha Baron Cohen. Life and career Baron Cohen is a founding member of the world music group Zohar who are sig ...

, and a performance by

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

singer

Mariza Marisa dos Reis Nunes ComIH (born 16 December 1973), known professionally as Mariza (), is a Portuguese fado singer. Mariza was born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, to a Portuguese father, José Brandão Nunes, and a Mozambican mo ...

. A second one-hour episode hosted by KQED aired nationally in 2012 with

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

Julie Fowlis Julie Fowlis (born 20 June 1978) is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic. Early life Fowlis grew up on North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides, in a Gaelic-speaking community. Her mothe ...

and

Of Monsters and Men Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic indie folk/rock band formed in Reykjavík in 2010. The members are lead singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, singer and guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, lead guitarist Brynjar Leifsson ...

. Talbot was also the executive producer of a series of twenty ''Sound Tracks'' online music videos for PBS Digital and YouTube, including interviews with and performances by

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

Yuja Wang Yuja Wang (; born February 10, 1987) is a Chinese classical pianist. She was born in Beijing, began studying piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Phila ...

Hélène Grimaud Hélène Rose Paule Grimaud (born 7 November 1969) is a French classical pianist and the founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York. Early life and education Grimaud was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. She described famil ...

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song " Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. Th ...

Seun Kuti Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti (born 11 January 1983), who is called by the name Seun Kuti, is a Nigerian musician, singer and the youngest son of the famous Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti. Seun leads his father's former band Egypt 80. Biography The y ...

Seu Jorge Jorge Mário da Silva, more commonly known by his stage name Seu Jorge (Seu, an abbreviation of "Senhor"; born June 8, 1970; ), is a Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, and actor. He is considered by many a renewer of Brazilian pop samba. Seu ...

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player, producer, film composer and activist. She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield; she has had 7 Grammy Awards nominations and was the ...

and Of Monsters and Men.

Writing

Talbot's articles have appeared in

, the ''

Washington Post Magazine ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Talbot wrote about meeting and interviewing Zimbabwe's

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

in an article, "From Liberator to Tyrant," for the ''Frontline/World'' website. In the 1970s, he was a reporter, writer and editor for

Internews Internews Network, now Internews, is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in California, formed in 1982. It was founded by David M. Hoffman, Kim Spencer, and Evelyn Messinger. The president and CEO is Jeanne Bourgault. Internews Europe is an in ...

and the International Bulletin, a radio and print foreign news service based in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and freelance production

For

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...

and PBS, Talbot wrote and directed with David Davis, ''The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation'', a two-hour history special that aired nationally on PBS in 2005. It drew from his earlier film, ''1968: The Year That Shaped a Generation'' (1998). He has executive produced a number of indie documentaries, including ''

The Price of Sex ''The Price of Sex'' is a 2011 full-length documentary film directed and produced by Mimi Chakarova. The film was released in multiple countries including Turkey, United States, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria. Synopsis The documentary is set i ...

'', a documentary by director and photo journalist

Mimi Chakarova Mimi Chakarova (Bulgarian: Мими Чакърова) is a Bulgarian-American photographer and filmmaker. Chakarova grew up in Communist-era Bulgaria. Her best known work is likely '' The Price of Sex'', a 2011 documentary about sex trafficking. H ...

about sex trafficking in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. Chakarova won the 2011 Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking from the

Human Rights Watch Film Festival Human Rights Watch Film Festival is an annual film festival held by Human Rights Watch organization in more than 20 countries which previews human rights films and videos in commercial and archival theaters and on public and cable television. This ...

in New York and the Daniel Pearl Award from the

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...

. Talbot wrote the one-hour political biography, ''Moscone: A Legacy of Change'' (2018), about San Francisco Mayor

George Moscone George Richard Moscone (; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known ...

, "the people's mayor." He as assassinated in 1978 along with gay Supervisor

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...

. From 2012 to 2014, Talbot was senior producer for video projects at the

, including feature news stories and short documentaries for the PBS Newshour, Univision, KQED-TV in San Francisco, and ''The New York Times''. At CIR, Talbot also led the editorial team that created and ran "The I Files", the first investigative news channel on

YouTube.com YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most vis ...

. From 2015 to 2022, Talbot was senior producer for documentary shorts at

ITVS ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly seri ...

/ Independent Lens (PBS) in San Francisco. In 2019 Talbot began co-writing and co-producing with Christine Ni the Bay Area NBC series ''Bay Area Revelations'', narrated by

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...

. He started with the episodes "Exploring Space" and "Loma Prieta Earthquake, 30 Years Later". He continued in 2020 with "Female Sports Icons" and "Riding the Waves", about surfing in Northern California. Talbot is directing a feature documentary about a showdown between the anti-Vietnam war movement and the Nixon and Kissinger administration in 1969, ''The Movement and the 'Madman'.''

Personal life

Stephen Talbot lives in San Francisco with his wife, Pippa Gordon, a medical social worker. They named their son Dashiell, now an attorney, after San Francisco mystery writer

. Their daughter, Caitlin, graduated with an M.F.A. from

American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The Ameri ...

, in San Francisco. In 2015, he wrote a story, "Call the Midwife", reminiscing about the

home birth A home birth is a birth that takes place in a residence rather than in a hospital or a birthing center. They may be attended by a midwife, or lay attendant with experience in managing home births. Home birth was, until the advent of modern medi ...

of his daughter. Talbot's sister, ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * ''The New ...

'' magazine staffer

Margaret Talbot Margaret Talbot is an American essayist and non-fiction writer. She is also the daughter of the veteran Warner Bros. actor Lyle Talbot, whom she profiled in an October 2012 ''The New Yorker'' article and in her book ''The Entertainer: Movies, Magi ...

, wrote ''The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century'' (Riverhead Books, 2012), about their father,

, and their family history. His younger brother,

David Talbot David Talbot (born September 22, 1951) is an American journalist, author, activist and independent historian. Talbot is known for his books about the "hidden history" of U.S. power and the liberal movements to change America, as well as his p ...

, is the author of several books, including ''Season of the Witch'' (about San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s), and was the founder and original editor-in-chief of ''

''. His sister, Cynthia, is a medical doctor in Portland, Oregon. His nephew,

Joe Talbot Joseph Lyle Talbot (born July 11, 1990) is an American filmmaker. His debut feature film, ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019), which he co-wrote and directed, won the Best Director prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The film i ...

, won the Best Director prize at Sundance for his debut feature film, ''

The Last Black Man in San Francisco ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' is a 2019 American drama film directed and produced by Joe Talbot in his directorial debut. He wrote the screenplay with Rob Richert and the story with Jimmie Fails, on whose life it is partly based. It s ...

'' (2019).

Awards

Talbot has won numerous awards for his broadcast journalism, including two national News and Documentary

s, three

s, two DuPont-Columbia Journalism Silver Batons, a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...

, six regional (Northern California) Emmys, three Golden Gate Awards from the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

, three Thomas M. Storke International Journalism Awards from the World Affairs Council of Northern California, an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club of America, a First Prize TV Award from the Education Writers Association, a

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

Arthur Rowse Award for media criticism, and an

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

. He has been nominated three times for best documentary script writing by the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

Select filmography

:See the complete Stephen Talbot filmography a
''IMDB''

References

External links

*
Official PBS site for "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders""Sound Tracks Presents Quick Hits" YouTube Channel "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders" website"Frontline World" website "Frontline" website"Price of Sex" film website"Reveal News / Center for Investigative ReportingKQED interview on the death of writer Carlos Fuentes. 2012KQED interview on the life and legacy of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. 2018KQED interview on the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. 2019
*Whatever Happened to Stephen Talbot, "Leave it to Beaver"'s Gilbert? We Asked Him! * https://bestclassicbands.com/stephen-talbot-beaver-interview-5-11-22/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Stephen 1949 births Living people American male journalists Journalists from California Television producers from California American male child actors Wesleyan University alumni People from Greater Los Angeles People from the San Francisco Bay Area Harvard-Westlake School alumni