William Walter Prochnau (August 9, 1937 – March 28, 2018) was an American

journalist 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 journalis ...

. In 1996 he began working for ''Vanity Fair'' as a contributing editor.

Career

He was born in

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

. His father died when he was eight, and his mother became a nurse to support her family. He attended Everett Community College and

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate pro ...

. Before working for ''Vanity Fair'', Prochnau was the Washington-bureau chief for ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'' and he later served as a national affairs reporter for ''

The Washington Post ''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 n ...

''. He reported from Southeast Asia and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

, making two tours of Vietnam in 1965 and 1967. Prochnau wrote articles which include the profile of Pat Robertson and a report on the kidnapping of multinational businessmen held for ransom. His work on the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

while at the ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

'' landed him on the infamous

master list of Nixon political opponents Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Works

Prochnau had two movies created from the works he wrote.: His ''Vanity Fair'' article "Adventures in the Ransom Trade" inspired the 2000 film ''

Proof of Life ''Proof of Life'' is a 2000 American action thriller film directed and produced by Taylor Hackford. The title refers to a phrase commonly used to indicate proof that a kidnap victim is still alive. The film's screenplay was written by Tony Gilr ...

''. His novel '' Trinity's Child'' was the basis for 1990's ''

By Dawn's Early Light ''By Dawn's Early Light'' (also known as ''The Grand Tour'') is an HBO original movie, first aired in 1990. It is based on the 1983 novel '' Trinity's Child'', written by William Prochnau. The film is one of the last to depict the events of a f ...

''. He also wrote ''Once Upon a Distant War: David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, Peter Arnett--Young War Correspondents and Their Early Vietnam Battles'', about the experiences of Halberstam, Sheehan, and Arnett reporting from Vietnam. On Halberstam's recommendation, he would later become a writer for ''Vanity Fair''.

Awards and honors

Prochnau won an Alicia Patterson Journalism FellowshipAlicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship
/ref> in 1988 to research and write about the media as it operated in the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

Personal life

He was married twice. His first marriage produced four children but ended in divorce. Prochnau's second marriage was to Laura Parker. Together they wrote articles for ''Vanity Fair''. They resided in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

. Laura Parker also covers aviation for ''

'' and served as a national correspondent for ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' for ten years.

References

External links

* * 1937 births 2018 deaths American male journalists Historians of the Vietnam War 20th-century American journalists The Seattle Times people The Washington Post journalists Vanity Fair (magazine) people People from Everett, Washington {{US-journalist-1930s-stub