Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/716514
SAGAFTRA.org | Summer 2016 | SAG-AFTRA 49 CBS MORLEY SAFER, a deeply respected CBS broadcaster, passed away May 19 at the age of 84. Although he was known for his decades-long tenure as a journalist on CBS' 60 Minutes, Safer got his start in print journalism, working for newspapers across his native Canada and in England. In 1964, he began working for CBS in London, before opening its bureau in Saigon in 1965, at the start of the Vietnam War. There, Safer did some of the first television coverage of the Vietnam War. He would go on to join 60 Minutes in 1970, working as a correspondent and reporter. Over the course of his long career, Safer won 12 Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards. In 2003, Safer received an AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Award, known as an AMEE, alongside several of his fellow journalists from 60 Minutes, including Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Dan Rather, Andy Rooney, Bob Simon, Lesley Stahl and Mike Wallace. Safer announced his retirement in May after 46 years on 60 Minutes, making him the program's longest-serving correspondent. GARRY MARSHALL, the prolific actor, director, producer and writer passed away July 19 at age 81. While the SAG-AFTRA member appeared in '90s films such as Soapdish and A League of Their Own, and served as a micro- managing network president on TV's Murphy Brown, he is best known for being the creator of iconic sitcoms such as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy. Marshall got his start as a joke writer in New York in the early 1960s, catching his big break writing for The Jack Paar Tonight Show. Later in the decade, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for comedy and variety shows, including The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Lucy Show. His first major success came in 1970, when he developed Neil Simon's play, The Odd Couple, into a hit television show. Later, he would go on to direct more than a dozen films, including Beaches, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride and The Princess Diaries . Over the course of his career and his many successful series, Marshall was an actor's director who employed countless SAG-AFTRA members and directed several of the most impressive acting ensembles to grace the screen. WILLIAM SCHALLERT, who served as president of Screen Actors Guild from 1979–1981, died May 8 at the age of 93. Schallert was best known for playing the father of another future SAG president — Patty Duke — on The Patty Duke Show. In a career that spanned more than 65 years, Schallert had many guest starring roles, but none more memorable than his turn as Nilz Baris in The Trouble with Tribbles, one of the most beloved episodes of Star Trek. In more recent years, Schallert appeared on TV series Desperate Housewives, True Blood and 2 Broke Girls. In 1974, Screen Actors Guild co-founder and former president Leon Ames recruited Schallert to run for the board. Five years later, he was elected Guild president, and led the Guild through the difficult TV/Theatrical strike of July-October 1980, taking on the tough issues of home video and pay TV. After the strike, Schallert lost his 1981 bid for a second term. Still, there was renewed impetus for merger with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and, as a member of the National Board, Schallert became chair of the first Joint SAG-AFTRA Merger Committee. More than 30 years later, an ecstatic and emotional Bill Schallert was present at the Guild's national headquarters on that momentous afternoon of March 30, 2012, when merger with AFTRA became reality. In addition to his Guild presidency, he also served as trustee of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation's John L. Dales Scholarship Fund, Screen Actors Guild Producers Pension and Health Plan, and the Motion Picture and Television Fund. From 1977–79, he was a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and served on the Academy's Actors' Branch Executive Committee until June 1991. Schallert also served as 3rd vice president from 1982–83, 9th vice president from 1985–87 and national treasurer from 1989–91. He was chair of the Theatrical Wages and Working Conditions Committee in 1977 and the Commercial Contracts Wages and Working Conditions Committee in 2003, and continued to serve on the board until 2005. While president, he also became co-founder and first chair of the Committee for Performers with Disabilities. Schallert is survived by his four sons and seven grandchildren. William Schallert celebrates alongside his fellow members after the merger of SAG and AFTRA is announced on March 30, 2012.