David Sheehan
Encyclopedia
David Sheehan has distinguished himself in the world of broadcasting with a series of trailblazing television firsts. Starting in 1970 on CBS, Sheehan was the first movie/television show reviewer/interviewer on a daily local newscast. More recently he hosts three national specials every year; Summer Movie Magic, Holiday Movie Magic and Academy Awards Movie Magic, highlights are available for preview on his "library of stars" webpage.
(then KNXT
), Sheehan was the first reviewer/interviewer on a daily local newscast. In 1972, also on KNXT, he was the first commentator to ever critique television on television, drawing “biting the hand” feature articles in both Time
and Life
magazines. In 1975, he was the first local newsman to ever work for two networks simultaneously: America Alive on NBC
and The Big News on CBS
. In 1979, he hosted and produced the first Pay-TV monthly series in history, Backstage in Hollywood on HBO.
In the early 1980s, Sheehan produced and camera-directed Pippin
(with Bob Fosse
directing the performances and choreography, starring Ben Vereen
and Martha Raye
)---the first Broadway musical ever captured by cameras during live stage performance, for Pay-TV, cable TV and home video.
In the 1980s, at NBC
, Sheehan was the first local entertainment reporter to host and produce his own series of network specials, including “Macho Men of the Movies” (with Clint Eastwood
, Sylvester Stallone
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
) and “Hollywood’s Leading Ladies” (with Julia Roberts
, Michelle Pfeiffer
, Sharon Stone
and Barbra Streisand
).
Sheehan worked the 70’s and early 80’s on CBS, moved to NBC from ‘84 to ‘94, and finished up his 34 years of daily newscasting back at CBS from 1994 to 2004.
Since then, he has been hosting three national specials every year: “Summer Movie Magic”, “Holiday Movie Magic” and “Academy Awards Movie Magic”, syndicated to over 250 stations through his Hollywood Close-Ups, Inc. production and distribution company.
winning playwright Edward Albee
, and the West Coast Premiere of “Little Murders” by noted cartoonist/playwright Jules Feiffer
.
's "Rat Pack" involvement in the 1962 John F. Kennedy
presidential campaign.
His magazine writing for Esquire
, Playboy
, Mademoiselle
, and Los Angeles Magazine included rare interviews with "Tropic of Capricorn" author Henry Miller
, mental health pioneer Abraham Maslow
, Gestalt Therapy founder Fritz Perls
, and Zen interpreter Alan Watts
. His articles on philosophers Michael and Dennis Murphy gave America its first view of the legendary 'Human Potentiality Movement' at Big Sur's Esalen Institute, which also took readers through an actual psychedelic experience guided by Sheehan's interview subjects Timothy Leary
and Richard ("Baba Ram Dass") Alpert.
Sheehan is the author of one published novel Before I Wake, under the pen-name David Dury.
, University of Notre Dame
and UCLA.
Sheehan resides in Marina del Rey, California.
Television
In 1970, on KCBS-TVKCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
(then KNXT
KNXT
KNXT is a television station owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, broadcasting on digital channel 50. The station is licensed in Visalia, California, about 45 miles southeast of Fresno...
), Sheehan was the first reviewer/interviewer on a daily local newscast. In 1972, also on KNXT, he was the first commentator to ever critique television on television, drawing “biting the hand” feature articles in both Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
and Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazines. In 1975, he was the first local newsman to ever work for two networks simultaneously: America Alive on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and The Big News on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. In 1979, he hosted and produced the first Pay-TV monthly series in history, Backstage in Hollywood on HBO.
In the early 1980s, Sheehan produced and camera-directed Pippin
Pippin
Pippin, Peppin, and Pepin are variants of a single Frankish given name. It was the name of several important figures in the Carolingian family that ruled the Frankish Empire in what is now France and the western parts of Germany in the Middle Ages:* Pepin of Landen, nicknamed the Elder, sometimes...
(with Bob Fosse
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse was an American actor, dancer, musical theater choreographer, director, screenwriter, film editor and film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction...
directing the performances and choreography, starring Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
and Martha Raye
Martha Raye
Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....
)---the first Broadway musical ever captured by cameras during live stage performance, for Pay-TV, cable TV and home video.
In the 1980s, at NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, Sheehan was the first local entertainment reporter to host and produce his own series of network specials, including “Macho Men of the Movies” (with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
) and “Hollywood’s Leading Ladies” (with Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
, Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
, Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
and Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
).
Sheehan worked the 70’s and early 80’s on CBS, moved to NBC from ‘84 to ‘94, and finished up his 34 years of daily newscasting back at CBS from 1994 to 2004.
Since then, he has been hosting three national specials every year: “Summer Movie Magic”, “Holiday Movie Magic” and “Academy Awards Movie Magic”, syndicated to over 250 stations through his Hollywood Close-Ups, Inc. production and distribution company.
Theatre
David Sheehan also made a mark in live theater as the producer-director of the West Coast Premiere of “An Albee Almanac” by Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning playwright Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
, and the West Coast Premiere of “Little Murders” by noted cartoonist/playwright Jules Feiffer
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
.
Author
After college, Sheehan was a newspaperman with the United Press International syndicate, covering celebrities in politics and winning accolades for his insider reporting on Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
's "Rat Pack" involvement in the 1962 John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
presidential campaign.
His magazine writing for Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Mademoiselle
Mademoiselle (magazine)
Mademoiselle was an influential women's magazine first published in 1935 by Street and Smith and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications....
, and Los Angeles Magazine included rare interviews with "Tropic of Capricorn" author Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, mental health pioneer Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
, Gestalt Therapy founder Fritz Perls
Fritz Perls
Friedrich Salomon Perls , better known as Fritz Perls, was a noted German-born psychiatrist and psychotherapist of Jewish descent....
, and Zen interpreter Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
. His articles on philosophers Michael and Dennis Murphy gave America its first view of the legendary 'Human Potentiality Movement' at Big Sur's Esalen Institute, which also took readers through an actual psychedelic experience guided by Sheehan's interview subjects Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
and Richard ("Baba Ram Dass") Alpert.
Sheehan is the author of one published novel Before I Wake, under the pen-name David Dury.
Education
Sheehan's college education includes Ohio State UniversityOhio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
and UCLA.
Private life
Sheehan is the father of three children: his son Brian is the owner of the Eclectic Wine Bar & Grill in North Hollywood; his daughter Shannon is a Los Angeles real estate developer; and his daughter Kelly is a Los Angeles recording studio producer/engineer.Sheehan resides in Marina del Rey, California.