KTLA anchor Hal Fishman dies at 75 after colon cancer diagnosis

By: Associated Press - | Tuesday, August 7, 2007 7:18 PM PDT ∞

LOS ANGELES -- Longtime KTLA Channel 5 anchor Hal Fishman died early Tuesday, less than a week after he was diagnosed with colon cancer, the station announced.

Fishman, 75, died at 3 a.m. at home with his family.

A newsman for nearly five decades, Fishman was hospitalized last week with a serious infection after he collapsed at his home.

While undergoing treatment for the infection, doctors discovered the cancer, which had spread to his liver.

Called the "Flying Anchorman," Fishman was a veteran pilot who sometimes covered news stories from his own plane. He held a dozen world aviation records for speed and altitude, KTLA said.

Like many Los Angeles television newscasters, Fishman also appeared from time to time in films and TV shows playing a version of himself. Most recently he was seen as the anchorman in the movie "Spider-Man 3."

"He is an institution and an icon and the shoes ... will never be filled," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a longtime friend and one-time student of the former college professor. "He was a student of world affairs and world events and a news commentator of substance, and not just a talking head who read the paper in front of him."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released a statement saying he was "deeply saddened" by Fishman's death.

"I remember Hal giving me the news when I first came to California in 1968," the governor said. "While he won many awards in his tenure as anchor, perhaps most importantly he won the respect and trust of news viewers throughout California, many of whom followed him through his prestigious 47-year career."

Fishman had anchored the station's 10 p.m. newscast since 1975. He joined KTLA in 1965 and reported on the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1991 Rodney King beating.

His honors include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; a Governor's Award from the Los Angeles Chapter of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; an Outstanding Broadcast Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and a lifetime achievement award from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association.

Fishman was an assistant professor of political science at California State University, Los Angeles, in 1960 when local TV station KCOP asked him to teach an on-air summer class in politics at a time when the Democratic National Convention was being held in Los Angeles. It became a success and the station asked Fishman to anchor a news segment. He accepted.

"I decided I could reach more people in one broadcast than I could teach in a lifetime," Fishman told the Los Angeles Times in 1985.

In 1965 he moved to KTLA, in time to cover the Watts riots. He moved to KTTV-TV Channel 11 in 1970 but returned to KTLA in 1971. Two years later, he went to what is now called KCAL-TV Channel 9 but returned to KTLA for good in 1975.

He also co-authored two novels.

He is survived by his wife, Nolie, and his son David.