Cooke, Alistair

Cooke, (Alfred) Alistair

(1906–  ) journalist, television host; born in Manchester, England. After studying at Yale, he was naturalized in 1941, broadcasting Letter from America for British Broadcasting Corporation Radio, also writing for The Guardian (1948–72). Urbane host of the cultural television magazine Omnibus (1952–60), he created the National Broadcasting Company series America: A Personal History of the United States in the 1970s. He hosted Public Broadcasting System's Masterpiece Theatre (1971–92) and became such a fixture on television that he was often the subject of genial parodies.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.