Ethel_Winant
Ethel Winant (née Wald; August 5, 1922 – November 29, 2003) was the first woman executive in television when she became the vice-president of CBS in 1973. Winant was also a casting director for various shows including The Twilight Zone and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
Ethel Winant | |
|---|---|
| Vice President of CBS | |
| In office 1973–1975 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ethel Wald (1922-08-05)August 5, 1922 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | November 29, 2003(2003-11-29) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Spouse | H. M. Wynant (1951-1971; divorced) |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Executive |
| Awards | Television Hall of Fame (1999) |
Ethel Wald was born on August 5, 1922, in Worcester, Massachusetts.[1] During her childhood, she grew up in Marysville, California.[2]
She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor's degree and Whittier College with a Master's degree in Theatre.[3]
While in school, Winant worked behind the scenes in the Pasadena Playhouse. After graduation, she became a theatre producer in Los Angeles while working for the Lockheed Corporation as a riveter and later riveter instructor making P-38s during the Second World War.[4][5] At the end of the 1940s, Winant became an assistant to the producer for Broadway plays including A Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman.[6]
She began working in television during the 1950s as a casting director for Studio One and Playhouse 90. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Winant cast various CBS shows including The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.[4] She was promoted to vice-president of CBS in 1973 and became the first woman to hold an executive role in television.[4] After working at Children's Television Workshop in the late 1970s as a producer, Winant moved to NBC to become a vice president of TV movies and miniseries.[7] During the 1980s and 1990s, she was the producer of multiple programs including World War II: When Lions Roared and George Wallace.[3]
Ethel Winant died in Los Angeles on November 29, 2003, aged 81.[1]
During the 1990s, Winant was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie on three separate occasions.[8]
In 1999, Ethel Winant was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.[9]
Winant was married to actor H. M. Wynant from 1951 until their divorce in 1971. They had three children.[1]
- Lavietes, Stuart (14 December 2003). "Ethel Winant, 81, Pioneering Woman In TV Production". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- Rense, Rip (November 29, 2017). "Ethel Winant: Hall of Fame Tribute". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- Newcomb, Horace, ed. (2013). "Ethel Winnant". Museum of Broadcast Communication Encyclopedia of Television. Vol. 4 (Second ed.). London and New York: Routledge. p. 2554. ISBN 978-1579584139.
- Saperstein, Pat (December 3, 2003). "Ethel Winant". Variety. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- "The Mary Tyler Moore Show 'The Making of the Mary Tyler Moore Show' FULL Documentary". YouTube. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- King, Susan (December 3, 2003). "Ethel Winant, 81; First Woman to Become Network Executive". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- Lentz III, Harris M. (2004). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003. McFarland. p. 430. ISBN 0786417560. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
- "Ethel Winant". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
- King, Susan (11 March 1999). "She Set the Course for Those Who Followed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 14, 2018.