Downs, Hugh

Hugh Downs, longtime anchor of ABC Television's primetime news magazine 20/20, is one of the most familiar figures in the history of the medium. He left the program and regular broadcasting in September of 1999 to write and lecture and to pursue other activities: travel, flying, science studies, riding, sailing, composing . Downs has enjoyed a distinguished 66-year career in radio and television as a reporter, newscaster, interviewer, narrator and host. In 1985 he was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as holding the record for the greatest number of hours on network commercial te...