Reephdweller
06-29-2008, 09:01 PM
The 'Real' Ron Burgundy Passes Away (http://gawker.com/tag/rip/?i=5020515&t=the-real-ron-burgundy-passes-away)
From Cajun Boy's blog (http://cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com/2008/06/ron-hunter-arguably-real-ron-burgundy.html) comes the news that journeyman local news anchor Ron Hunter (http://gawker.com/tag/ron-hunter/)—who is thought by some to be the inspiration for Ron Burgundy (http://gawker.com/tag/ron-burgundy/) in Anchorman—has passed away at the age of 70. "In his long career, Ron Hunter anchored top rated local news desks in New Orleans, Miami, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Chicago, where he shared the desk with the likes of Jane Pauley and Maury Povich." After jump, one of the late newsman's former colleagues remembers his ego-driven antics, er, fondly? Ed Kilgore, who worked with Hunter in Buffalo, recalls:
Ron Hunter had THE biggest ego of any person male or female I've ever worked with, and it's not even close. It was actually quite incredible how much Ron valued his own opinions and appearance, and yet in a strange way, he made it seem natural; like, doesn't EVERYBODY think like I do? You want an example? Ok, for starters, when Ron began anchoring at Ch2 after moving to Buffalo from New Orleans, where he virtually owned the market, we didn't call it Ch2 News, or Action News, or even News news. We called it, "The Ron Hunter Report". Not only that, Ron had a special animated opening made up, which featured a likeness of Ron, with his big buffont hair-do, running around with a microphone as if he's out getting the scoop. The show then opens, with Ron leaning into the camera, and with a booming voice "I'm Ron Hunter, and the big story in Buffalo is....." The standing joke around the news room, of course, was that the next word would be "me".
http://gawker.com/tag/rip/?i=5020515&t=the-real-ron-burgundy-passe
From Cajun Boy's blog (http://cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com/2008/06/ron-hunter-arguably-real-ron-burgundy.html) comes the news that journeyman local news anchor Ron Hunter (http://gawker.com/tag/ron-hunter/)—who is thought by some to be the inspiration for Ron Burgundy (http://gawker.com/tag/ron-burgundy/) in Anchorman—has passed away at the age of 70. "In his long career, Ron Hunter anchored top rated local news desks in New Orleans, Miami, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Chicago, where he shared the desk with the likes of Jane Pauley and Maury Povich." After jump, one of the late newsman's former colleagues remembers his ego-driven antics, er, fondly? Ed Kilgore, who worked with Hunter in Buffalo, recalls:
Ron Hunter had THE biggest ego of any person male or female I've ever worked with, and it's not even close. It was actually quite incredible how much Ron valued his own opinions and appearance, and yet in a strange way, he made it seem natural; like, doesn't EVERYBODY think like I do? You want an example? Ok, for starters, when Ron began anchoring at Ch2 after moving to Buffalo from New Orleans, where he virtually owned the market, we didn't call it Ch2 News, or Action News, or even News news. We called it, "The Ron Hunter Report". Not only that, Ron had a special animated opening made up, which featured a likeness of Ron, with his big buffont hair-do, running around with a microphone as if he's out getting the scoop. The show then opens, with Ron leaning into the camera, and with a booming voice "I'm Ron Hunter, and the big story in Buffalo is....." The standing joke around the news room, of course, was that the next word would be "me".
http://gawker.com/tag/rip/?i=5020515&t=the-real-ron-burgundy-passe