- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJessica Beth Savitch
- Jessica Savitch was born on February 1, 1947 in Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania. Her father suddenly died when she was just 12 years old.
It was he that encouraged her for a career in broadcast journalism.
Jessica first considered a career in broadcasting while in high school.
A friend then got her a job part-time reading the local news on the
radio. When Jessica decided to major in communications at Ithaca
College in New York, her faculty adviser bluntly told her that she was
not part of broadcasting because she is a woman. His sexist words gave
Jessica even more determination to prove him wrong. After graduation,
Jessica became an all-around assistant for CBS-Radio in New York City.
In 1971, she landed a job at KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas. Three months
later, she enjoyed the distinction of becoming the first woman in the
South to anchor a broadcast. In 1972, Jessica accepted a job to anchor
the weekend newscast in Philadelphia. Over the next few years, Jessica
slowly worked her way up and fought hard to be treated fairly in
comparison to the other male anchors and correspondents. In 1977,
Jessica signed a contract with New York's NBC station to anchor their
Sunday evening broadcast, NBC Nightly News. She was then appointed
co-anchor of Prime Time Sunday later that year. Jessica's rise to
stardom inspired resentment among her colleagues who felt she hadn't
paid her dues by first working as a network correspondent. However
Jessica's rise to fame apparently came with a price as rumors about
drug use and instability dogged her. Things came to a head on October
3, 1983 when, during a live news update, Jessica appeared incoherent in
which her speech was slurred, she deviated from her copy and ad-libbed
her report. She at first explained that her monitor had malfunctioned.
But her agent inadvertently contradicted her alibi by saying that she
was under medication from a head injury several weeks earlier. A short
while later, Jessica seemed to get back on track for her contract at
NBC was extended and she was ranked high on the list of replacements
for Jane Pauley who was scheduled to take a maternity leave. But things
came suddenly to an end when on Sunday, October 23, 1983, Jessica and
her boyfriend, New York Post executive Martin Fischbein, drove to New
Hope, Pennsylvania when they leisurely shopped for antiques. That
evening, they ate dinner at the Chez Odette, a restaurant along the
Delaware Canal. A fierce rainstorm set in and the couple became anxious
to return to New York. Fischbein drove and Jessica sat in the back seat
with her dog Chewy, a Siberian husky. The weather conditions made the
driving difficult. Fischbein apparently mistook a dirt road for an exit
and in a matter of seconds the car flipped off the road and plunged
into the canal sinking almost instantly. Seven hours later, the bodies
of 36-year-old Jessica Savitch and Martin Fischbein were pulled from
the canal.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Matthew Patay
- SpousesDonald Payne(March 21, 1981 - August 1, 1981) (his death)Mel Korn(January 6, 1980 - March 9, 1981) (divorced)
- Her estate was awarded over $8 million for wrongful death - the largest
settlement ever for a woman's estate. Some of the money was used to set
up college scholarships. - Savitch separated from her first husband, Mel Korn, after only 10 months of marriage in November 1980. Her second husband, Dr. Donald Payne, committed suicide by hanging just over four months after their wedding. The shock of discovering Payne hanging in their basement lead to Savitch miscarrying in the fourth month of her pregnancy.
- Her life formed the original basis of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in Up Close & Personal (1996), but Savitch's story was considered too downbeat and was rewritten to be more upbeat.
- Her younger sister, Lori Savitch, followed in her sister's footsteps
and became a news anchor for WPXI-11 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. - Will Ferrell also borrowed from Jessica's struggles in writing Christina Applegate's 70s female anchor role in his film,
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).
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