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Peter Jennings Biography

TV Newscaster

Peter Jennings was the chief anchor of ABC-TV's World News Tonight from 1983 until shortly before his death in 2005. For many of those years he went head-to-head with two other longstanding network anchors, NBC's Tom Brokaw and CBS's Dan Rather. A Canadian by birth, Jennings was known for his dry, understated delivery and for his international outlook, honed by years as a foreign correspondent. Jennings also anchored the ABC evening news from 1965-67, which at the time made him the youngest network anchor in TV history. After a long period in other roles, he was named the sole anchor of World News Tonight in 1983. Jennings announced in April of 2005 that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but would continue to work as much as possible. He never returned to the air, passing away four months later.

Extra credit: According to ABC, "A former smoker who quit 20 years ago, Jennings resumed smoking briefly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks"... Jennings became a U.S. citizen in 2003... At age nine Jennings hosted a Canadian radio show for kids called Peter's People... In December of 2005, ABC News announced that Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff would succeed Jennings as anchors of World News Tonight.

Other TV news personalities of Jennings' era include Walter Cronkite, Diane Sawyer, Paula Zahn, Andrea Thompson and Katie Couric.