Harold Greene, the friendly, longtime anchor of many local Los Angeles news stations, died last night. His death was announced by the family. Greene was 82 years old.
At different points in his career, Greene has worked for ABC7 Eyewitness News, KCAL 9 News and CBS 2 News. Greene also worked in San Diego for a time, and legend has long held that his on-air look at the time (including an impressive mustache) inspired elements of the Ron Burgundy character in Presenter. Will Ferrell, however, denied this information.
Greene got his first job in Los Angeles as a reporter and producer for KABC. Shortly after, he left for San Diego affiliate KCST-TV (now KNSD). He then joined then-NBC affiliate KGTV to co-anchor the news.
In 1978, he co-anchored the news in Los Angeles with Eyewitness News legend Jerry Dunphy. He became ABC7’s weekend anchor with Joanne Ishimine in 1982 before taking over as president of the 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. weekday editions of Eyewitness News after Dunphy left. It then moved to the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. time slots. At ABC, Greene also hosted locally produced light news programs such as Hollywood close-up And AM Los Angeles.
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In 2001, he joined CBS 2 and was part of a formidable on-air lineup that included LA TV News stalwarts Ann Martin and sports anchor Jim Hill. Later, Laura Diaz and meteorologist Johnny Mountain joined the crew, bringing together members of KABC’s Eyewitness News team from the 1980s and early 1990s. Greene and Martin were fired by KCBS/KCAL in 2008.
Greene has received 10 Golden Mike Awards, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism Award, two Emmys, three Edward R. Murrow Awards and twelve LA Press Club Awards.
His daughter Courtney announced the news, writing that her father had “signed for the last time” on Tuesday. She added that she and her mother were with Greene when he died.
“We have a feeling he’s already setting up shop in the big sky newsroom, no doubt with some suggestions on how things should work.”
A memorial is planned after the holiday.
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