Jerry Dunphy

Jerry Dunphy

Acting
1921-06-09
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Biography

Jerry Dunphy was an American television news anchor in the Los Angeles/Southern California media market. He was best known for his intro "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening." After serving as a pilot in World War II, Dunphy began his broadcast television career in 1953. He was the news director/anchor at then-CBS owned-and-operated (O&O) WXIX (now CW affiliated WVTV) in Milwaukee. Dunphy also was a sports reporter at another CBS O&O, WBBM-TV, in Chicago. Dunphy also served as a color commentator for Green Bay Packers telecasts on CBS in 1956. In 1960, Dunphy took over the anchor chair at the Los Angeles CBS O&O station KNXT (now KCBS-TV), where he anchored Los Angeles' most popular newscast, later titled "The Big News", a program that often attracted a quarter of Los Angeles television owners, ratings unheard of in the market. He was still popular when fired in 1975, yet KNXT sought to adopt a faster-paced, "Eyewitness News" type format. It was then that Dunphy joined KABC-TV, bringing it to the top of the ratings, making it Southern California's news leader. Since Dunphy's unceremonious firing, Channel 2 never recovered in the ratings, until the mid-2000s. Dunphy left KABC-TV in 1989 and joined the upstart KCAL-TV that July (when it was still KHJ-TV) as one of the pioneering anchors of the three-hour primetime news format, "Prime 9 News". He returned to KCBS-TV in 1995 and remained until 1997 as an anchorman, and rejoined KCAL-TV in 1997, where he remained until his death. Dunphy was one of the first newscasters to interview President Richard Nixon after his resignation in 1974. He would later sit down with Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford. Dunphy also performed regular cameos in L.A.-based films including Warning Shot, Night of the Lepus, Oh God!, Short Cuts, The Jerky Boys and Independence Day, as well as in episode 6 of Batman Film Way,,,Way Out, and is considered to be the inspiration for two fictional television characters: Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Kent Brockman on The Simpsons (the director of "Krusty Gets Busted", Brad Bird, designed the character and modeled him after anchorman Ted Koppel. Dunphy was also a songwriter. One of his songs was called, appropriately, "From the Desert to the Sea" and was recorded by country music star T.G. Sheppard. On May 9, 1984, Dunphy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in the television industry, located at 6669 Hollywood Boulevard. He succumbed to a heart attack on May 20, 2002.

Known For & Full Filmography22 Titles

#1Batman

Drama Series - 1966, 16 episodes as Newscaster

7.3 / 10
Sci-Fi & FantasyComedyAction & Adventure

Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.

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#2Hart to Hart

Drama Series - 1979, 16 episodes Main Cast Role

6.8 / 10
Action & AdventureCrimeMystery

Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives.

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#3Arli$$

Drama Series - 1996, 16 episodes as Jerry Dunphy

7.0 / 10
Comedy

A behind-the-scenes look at the glitzy, big-money world of professional sports following the eternally optimistic and endlessly resourceful L.A. sports agent Arliss Michaels whose Achilles' heel is his inability to say “no” to clients and employees.

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#4Independence Day

Movie - 1996, 2h 15m as Self

6.9 / 10
ActionAdventureSci-Fi

Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.

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#5Beverly Hills Cop III

Movie - 1994, 2h 15m as Newscaster

5.9 / 10
ActionComedyCrime

When his boss is killed, Detroit cop Axel Foley finds evidence that the murderer had ties to a California amusement park called Wonder World. Returning to sunny Beverly Hills once more, Foley reunites with Detective Billy Rosewood to solve the case. Along with Billy's new partner, Detective Jon Flint, they discover that Wonder World is being used as a front for a massive counterfeiting ring.

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#6Hard to Kill

Movie - 1990, 2h 15m as Newscaster

6.0 / 10
ActionDramaCrime

Mason Storm, a 'go it alone' cop, is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death

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#7Brooklyn Bridge

Drama Series - 1991, 16 episodes as Sputnik Play-by-Play

7.8 / 10
DramaComedy

Brooklyn Bridge is an American television program which aired on CBS between 1991 and 1993. It is about a Jewish American family living in Brooklyn in the middle 1950s. The premise was partially based on the childhood of executive producer and creator Gary David Goldberg. Brooklyn Bridge won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy Award as for outstanding television series in 1992, after its first season. The cast was led by Marion Ross; Art Garfunkel performed the theme song, which was titled "Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge." In 1997, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was ranked #46 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

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#8The French Atlantic Affair

Drama Series - 1979, 16 episodes as Self

7.2 / 10
CrimeDrama

When the SS Festivale sets sail from New York to France, its 3,000 passengers include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harold Columbine and 146 members of the Church of the Cosmic Path, led by Father Craig Dunleavy, their charismatic messiah. Seizing control of the ship, Dunleavy demands $70 million in gold, intending to kill everyone onboard once it's paid. Without knowing which passengers are cultists and warned that 12 will die for every hijacker harmed, Columbine and the captain search for a way to save 3,000 lives before Dunleavy makes good on his threat. Based on a novel by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, this mini-series was broadcast over three nights in November 1979.

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#9Bulworth

Movie - 1998, 2h 15m as Jerry Dunphy

6.3 / 10
ComedyDramaCrime

A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.

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#10Short Cuts

Movie - 1993, 2h 15m as Jerry Dunphy

7.2 / 10
DramaComedy

Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.

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#11Mirage

Movie - 1965, 2h 15m Main Cast Role

7.1 / 10
MysteryThriller

After a blackout in his office building, accountant David Stillwell emerges outside to find out a man he did not know either jumped or was pushed out a window to his death — and that he can't remember the past two years of his life. Enlisting the help of a rookie private eye and a reluctant old flame, Stillwell uncovers the mystery detail by unexpected detail.

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#12Faraday and Company

Drama Series - 1973, 16 episodes as Newscaster

7.0 / 10
DramaCrime

Private investigator Frank Faraday, falsely accused of murdering his partner, escapes from a South American prison after 28 years' confinement. Returning to a Los Angeles greatly changed during his absence, Frank discovers that he has an adult son named Steve, also a private investigator. Steve is the son of Frank's girlfriend, Lou Carson, who had taken over Frank's agency. Father and son now work together to solve mysteries, while Frank tries to adjust to contemporary life.

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#13Oh, God!

Movie - 1977, 2h 15m as Jerry Dunphy

6.4 / 10
FantasyComedy

When God appears to an assistant grocery manager as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world.

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#14Night of the Lepus

Movie - 1972, 2h 15m as Television Newscaster

4.4 / 10
HorrorSci-Fi

Rancher Cole Hillman is fed up of rabbits plaguing his fields. Zoologist Roy Bennett conducts an experiment to curb their population, but it gives rise to giant rabbits that terrorise the town.

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#15Warning Shot

Movie - 1967, 2h 15m Main Cast Role

6.4 / 10
CrimeMysteryThriller

Hounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman works his own case.

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#16Pauly Shore Is Dead

Movie - 2003, 2h 15m as Jerry Dunphy

4.4 / 10
Comedy

Hollywood comedian/actor Pauly Shore loses everything: his house, nobody in Hollywood wants to represent him, he moves back home with his mom and is now parking cars at the Comedy Store. Then one night when he's up in his mom's loft, a dead famous comedian appears who tells Pauly to kill himself cause he'll go down as a comedic genius who died before his time. Pauly then fakes his own death, and the media goes crazy.

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#17Independence Day: The ID4 Invasion

Movie - 1996, 2h 15m as WNN's Pentagon Correspondent Jerry Dunphy

6.6 / 10
Sci-FiAction

A "mockumentary" of the alien invasion during Independence Day. Barry Nolan hosts the programme, the first 9 minutes of which are a spoof news report of the events of the film. The middle bit is a discussion of the film by cast and crew, and at the end various scientists and politicians discuss what would happen if real aliens arrive on Earth.

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#18Jimmy Hollywood

Movie - 1994, 2h 15m as Anchorperson

5.2 / 10
Comedy

Jimmy Alto is an actor wannabe who stumbles into the role of a lifetime. He becomes a vigilante crime-fighter, aided by his sidekick William, who has suffered a head wound and has problems with short-term memory. Jimmy's vigilante alter ego soon becomes a media wonder--but Jimmy remains a total unknown and his long-suffering girl friend Lorraine is getting fed up with the whole situation.

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#19Impulse

Movie - 1990, 2h 15m as TV Anchorman

5.6 / 10
ThrillerCrime

A Los Angeles vice cop, caught between her undercover role as a sex worker and her personal relationships, is thrown into a web of murder and deceit.

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#20The Love Machine

Movie - 1971, 2h 15m as Newscaster

5.0 / 10
Drama

An ambitious TV newscaster has an affair with the wife of a network executive to get a promotion.

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#21Kitten with a Whip

Movie - 1964, 2h 15m as Newscaster

5.3 / 10
Thriller

Straitlaced senatorial hopeful David Stratton has no idea what he's in for when he arrives home from a trip to find sexy teen Jody curled up asleep in his daughter's bed. Soon, delinquent Jody is holding David -- and his plush suburban home -- hostage while she hides out from the cops and throws wild parties with her beatnik pals. David, terrified of scandal, agrees to drive Jody and her friends to Mexico, a decision he regrets when the ride gets out of control.

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#22The Great Quake Hazard Hunt

Movie - 1990, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10
FamilyDocumentary

Educational video with Chip and Dale showing children how earthquakes happen and how to prepare for them at home and at school.

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