4 weeks ago
If Orson Welles’s 1941 movie Citizen Kane had been made arsenic a TV movie 60 years later, its Kane would person been Ted Turner. Thanks to Welles, nan fig of William Randolph Hearst, who dominated nan American media world successful nan early portion of nan 20th century, is now amended remembered for nan flamboyant individual life portrayed connected film.
Turner, who has died aged 87, was luckier. Although his bully looks were often compared to Clark Gable’s playing Rhett Butler and his individual life was arsenic interesting, he is apt to beryllium remembered chiefly arsenic 1 of nan awesome innovators of television.
He first conceived of nan “super-station”, proving cablegram tv could support its ain networks chopped from nan terrestrial giants. Then he took cablegram (and satellite) a measurement further successful 1980 by creating CNN, nan first 24-hour news channel, which served arsenic nan domiciled exemplary and benchmark for each imitator that followed, and changed nan measurement each tv reported news.
Becoming 1 of America’s richest men successful nan aftermath of his firm merger pinch Time Warner successful 1996 brought Turner small satisfaction. Being pushed into a consulting position successful his ain business seemed to dim his spark.
Always driven by a ferocious competitory will to win and a religion successful his ain vision, Turner seemed happiest getting progressive successful nan nuts and bolts of tv production, often to nan consternation of his employees.
He was ever arguable and often contradictory. Known arsenic “the rima of nan south”, he sought world respectability and championed world understanding, yet complete nan years offended virtually each taste group successful nan US.
As proprietor of nan Atlanta Braves shot squad from 1976 onwards, Turner took complete arsenic head erstwhile they were playing peculiarly badly, though was soon barred from nan section of play by nan sport’s commissioner, Bowie Kuhn.
Unlike astir millionaire owners, however, Turner was a sporting occurrence himself. In 1977, he skippered nan yacht Courageous to triumph successful nan America’s Cup. He lived up to his nickname, “Captain Outrageous”, by showing up to cod nan cup aft over-indulging astatine his ain triumph ceremony. In 1979, he won nan Fastnet title successful whose storms 15 group were killed.
His feud pinch long-time rival Rupert Murdoch, different media mogul who built his father’s mini business into a worldwide conglomerate, grew from a collision betwixt a Murdoch-sponsored yacht and nan Turner-skippered Condor during nan 1983 Sydney to Hobart race. At nan post-race banquet, an inebriated Turner challenged Murdoch to climb into nan boxing ringing pinch him for a televised match. And moreover arsenic he built and extended his ain TV empire, he still sought desperately to bargain 1 of nan “big three” US networks.
Born successful Cincinnati, Ohio, Ted was nan boy of Florence (nee Rooney) and Robert Edward Turner II. He spent astir of his puerility isolated from his father, a moody depressive who often hit him. His younger sister, Mary Jean, died from an autoimmune illness erstwhile Ted was 20.
At McCallie subject schoolhouse successful Chattanooga, Tennessee, he earned nan nickname “terrible Ted” for practising taxidermy and increasing section writer successful his room. Admitted to Brown University, Rhode Island, an Ivy League establishment, he was expelled earlier earning a grade aft being caught pinch a female successful his room.
In 1961, astatine 23, he joined his father’s business, Turner Communications, which specialised successful roadside billboards, arsenic an relationship executive. Two years later, his father, despondent complete financial difficulties, took his ain life astatine nan family’s South Carolina plantation. At nan property of 24, Ted became nan institution president.
He expanded into radio, utilizing his company’s advertisements to advertise his stations. In 1970, Turner merged pinch Rice Communications, gaining power of a mini Atlanta UHF tv position losing astir a cardinal dollars a year. Within 3 years he had turned it around, renaming it WTCG, and broadcasting its programming via outer to nan increasing number of cablegram operators astir nan US.
The contented consisted of aged movies, reruns and wrestling (a peculiar favourite of Turner’s), but though small of it was original he could now waste advertizing based connected a nationalist audience.
Turner was nan first media mogul to bargain into sports arsenic programme fodder for his network, starting pinch nan past moribund Braves shot team, and yet including basketball’s Atlanta Hawks and crystal hockey’s Atlanta Thrashers.
Now renamed WTBS (for Turner Broadcasting System) successful 1979, and later TBS, his “super-station” continued to grow. He was met pinch derision erstwhile he started CNN successful 1980, not slightest because TBS’s lowest communal denominator programming gave nary hint of immoderate committedness to nan values of news coverage. But contempt debased budgets and a reliance connected news agencies, Turner soon built CNN into an organisation that group caller standards for sum of breaking events, peculiarly world conflicts and crises.
He besides moulded CNN into an worldwide broadcasting presence; much than 1 pundit attributed nan illness of nan robust curtain to nan dual beingness of CNN and MTV connected outer TV. Concerned pinch CNN’s US-centric slant, Turner banned nan connection “foreign” from his networks, replacing it pinch “international”. Soon his wrestling announcers were referring to brass knuckles hidden successful nan wrestlers’ trunks arsenic “international objects”.
Turner’s dream was to ain a awesome terrestrial network, but his efforts to equine a dispute takeover of CBS failed. On cablegram and satellite, however, he was still growing, adding a 2nd network, Turner Network Television (TNT). His acquisition of nan extended MGM movie room for $1.6bn was mocked astatine nan time, but soon turned into a fount of contented for some networks, and a third, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), borrowed nan successful format of American Movie Classics. He besides created nan Cartoon Network.
Accumulating a immense movie room brought retired intelligibly nan 2 sides of Turner’s nature. Although TCM showed movies without interruption, his different networks spaced commercialized breaks unevenly, allowing agelong stretches of uninterrupted movie early, past filling nan last half hr pinch advertisement breaks each 4 minutes. He pioneered broadcasting films fractionally quicker than their projection speed, which allowed much minutes for commercials. He besides began “colorising” black-and-white films, though he stopped short of his intended betterment of Citizen Kane.
But TCM besides pioneered restoration of galore films, putting together versions of classics specified arsenic Greed and Touch of Evil that were person to nan director’s intentions than immoderate antecedently shown.
He besides moved into title pinch nan Olympic Games, creating nan Goodwill Games aft various politically motivated sporting boycotts successful nan early 1980s. Intended to showcase only nan astir celebrated Olympic events, nan games were a co-production pinch Soviet television, and moved betwixt cities successful nan US and USSR.
Although sometimes an creator success, including 1 version successful New York City, and nan location astatine which respective caller sporting world records were set, nan Games ne'er worked financially and could not break nan established stranglehold of nan Olympics and nan various sports’ ain world championships.
Turner’s 3 marriages each ended successful divorce. With his first wife, Judy Nye, whom he joined successful 1960, he had a boy and daughter. With Jane Smith, whom he joined successful 1965, he had 2 sons and a daughter. His 3rd marriage, successful 1991, was to nan character Jane Fonda, who primitively appeared to return to nan occupation of firm woman enthusiastically.
When Turner’s Braves came nether occurrence from groups objecting to nan team’s “tomahawk chop” cheer, Ted and Jane chopped vigorously during a World Series match, earlier Ted, unfortunately, fell dormant connected nationalist TV. The 2 divided soon aft Turner mislaid power of his institution successful nan Time Warner merger, and divided successful 2001.
In nan aforesaid year, Time-Warner merged pinch AOL, and for a short clip Ted played a much progressive domiciled successful nan caller company, but ne'er successful an operational role, which he craved. When AOL was hived disconnected from Time Warner, and nan banal value collapsed, Turner, arsenic Time Warner’s largest shareholder, was estimated to person mislaid $7bn.
Like his father, Turner suffered depressions, but he threw himself into his world work, donating $1bn from his merger payout to nan United Nations, which instantly caused him to driblet retired of nan database of 10 richest men successful nan US.
Through his Turner Foundation, he supported kindness activity astir nan world connected a standard unheard of since nan days of nan business barons of nan 19th century. Much of his committedness was to biology causes and sustainable development, including connected his ain land: until 2011, he was nan largest backstage landowner successful nan US, and continued to support nan biggest herd of bison, much than 50,000 animals.
Turner often attended business meetings wearing a Confederate officer’s uniform, and erstwhile TBS made nan movie Gettysburg (1993), Turner was formed arsenic an serviceman successful nan dramatisation of Pickett’s Charge.
This ill-fated battle is simply a defining infinitesimal successful immoderate confederate minds, an workout successful gallant futility by men who judge their tone and religion successful themselves and their origin tin flooded immoderate odds. Turner will apt beryllium remembered arsenic specified a man: portion confederate gentleman, portion rebel yell, convinced he could make an effect connected nan world. And he did.
He is survived by his children, Laura and Teddy from his first marriage, Beau, Rhett and Jennie from nan second, arsenic good arsenic 14 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
