Bree Walker
Bree Walker | |
|---|---|
 Walker at Common Cause Media Conference 2008 | |
| Born | Patricia Lynn Nelson February 26, 1953 Oakland, California,U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, Talk Show Host, News Anchor |
| Known for | work atWCBS-TVandKCBS-TV |
| Spouses | Robert Smith Walker
(m.1980–1990)Jim Lampley (m.1990–1999) |
| Children | 2 |
Bree Walker(bornPatricia Lynn Nelson;February 26, 1953) is an Americanradio talk showhost, actress, anddisability-rightsactivist. She gained fame as the first on-air American television networknews anchorwithectrodactyly.[1]Walker worked as a news anchor and reporter inSan Diego,New York City,andLos Angeles.
Early life
[edit]Walker was born inOakland, California,and raised inAustin, Minnesota.She inheritedectrodactyly,a raregenetic conditionwhich causes missing digits andsyndactyly,which causes fused digits.
TV and radio
[edit]After graduating from theUniversity of Minnesota,Walker worked as adisc jockeyinKansas City,New York CityandSan Diego,where she went by Bree Bushaw, her first husband's name.[2]
She started her television career in 1980 atKGTVin San Diego as a consumer advocacy reporter. Established and well into her career at KGTV, Walker decided to go public with her ectrodactyly after previously keeping her hands hidden inside a pair of glove-like prosthetic ones. With them now clearly visible, she continued her newscasting career at KGTV.
Acting
[edit]Walker has also dabbled in acting, appearing as herself in the end-of-the-world science-fiction thriller,Without Warning(credited as Bree Walker-Lampley but referred to on screen as Bree Walker), and as television reporter, Wendy Sorenson, inThe Chase.She also guest-starred on an episode of thePBSchildren's series,Reading Rainbow,to talk about her disability.
While watching the 2003 season ofCarnivàle,anHBOtelevision series about a Depression-era carnival traveling through theDust Bowl,Walker noticed that no cast member hadectrodactyly.She requested, created, auditioned and won the role of Sabina the Scorpion Lady.[1]Her portrayal of Sabina appeared in three episodes during the 2005 season. She showcased her webbed hands as the series probed public attitudes toward persons with highly visible disabilities. She based Sabina on characters she knew existed in the 1920s and 1930s carnivalsideshowswith names like "Lobster Girl" or "Lobster Boy."These were typically the best jobs people with ectrodactyly could have, with most others being hidden away.
Walker furthered her acting career in 2006 by appearing as an inspirational woman withectrodactylyon the fourth-season premiere ofNip/Tuck.[3]
Walker shares the on-camera narrator duties withJon Elliottfor the feature-length documentary film,Save KLSD:Media Consolidation and Local Radio,which was first screened in April 2012. It looks at the shrinking number of corporations that control the majority of what Americans watch and listen to on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. It was over four years in the making and was produced byJon MondayandJennifer Douglas,distributed by mondayMEDIA. She is also in the film as an expert, speaking at a media reform conference.[4][5]
Purchase of Camp Casey
[edit]In June 2007, it was announced that Walker had purchasedCindy Sheehan's 5-acre (20,000 m2) "Camp Casey"site in Crawford, Texas for $87,000, in response to Sheehan'sMay 26, 2007 announcementthat she would be selling the property and ending her antiwar activities. Sheehan handed the deed to Walker during her June 9, 2007, broadcast of "The Bree Walker show."[6]Walker has preserved the property as a peace memorial and garden and keeps it open to antiwar protesters.[7]It is featured prominently on Walker's website.[8]
Personal life
[edit]Walker has been married and divorced three times. She has a daughter named Andrea Layne Walker (born August 12, 1988) with her second husband, independent film and video producer Robert Walker, and a son named Aaron James Lampley with her third husband, news anchor and sportscasterJim Lampley.[9][10][11][12][13][14]Her surname is taken from her second husband.
She and her children were featured on an episode ofTLC'sMy Unique Family;she refuses to answer questions about rumors that she has silicone lip implants.[15]Her son and daughter both have ectrodactyly; she reacted very strongly on her blog to Oprah Winfrey's implication that a "normal" child would have all their fingers and their toes.
Honors and awards
[edit]Walker was nominated and inducted into the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame in 2010 a collaboration betweenWomen's Museum of California,Commission on the Status of Women,University of California, San DiegoWomen's Center, andSan Diego State UniversityWomen's Studies.[16]
References
[edit]- ^abKeck, William (2005-02-16)."Embracing her 'inner freak'".USA Today.Los Angeles.Retrieved26 February2011.
- ^Finke, Nikki (November 1, 1988)."A Different Kind of TV Anchorwoman".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedOctober 25,2023.
- ^"Access Hollywood story about Bree Walker on Nip/Tuck".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-12.
- ^"San Diego Media Forum article about Save KLSD".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-04-09.
- ^"Save KLSD".
- ^"AUDIO: Cindy Sheehan Hands 'Camp Casey' Deed to Bree Walker – The BRAD BLOG".
- ^Brown, Angela K. (30 September 2010)."Sheehan sells Crawford, Texas, land to L.A. radio talk show host".The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^"Bree Walker » Camp Casey".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-08-24.Retrieved2011-08-26.
- ^"Sequels".PEOPLE.com.
- ^"ABILITY Magazine – Bree Walker Interview".
- ^Orange Coast Magazine.September 1994.
- ^"'Love Letters' has familiar feeling for Walker, Lampley – The San Diego Union-Tribune ".
- ^"USATODAY.com – Embracing her 'inner freak'".
- ^"L.A.'S MOST VISIBLE Office Romance: When TV news co-anchors Jim Lampley and Bree Walker became a team off the air as well as on, tongues started wagging. What's it like to conduct a romance when so many people are watching?".Los Angeles Times.16 March 1990.
- ^Haber (January 27, 2005)."Awful Plastic Surgery's Legal Lip Service".Gawker.Archived fromthe originalon 16 January 2012.Retrieved28 October2012.
- ^"Several Standout Women Among Inductees to the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame".UC San Diego News.UC San Diego.Retrieved21 January2018.
External links
[edit]- American radio personalities
- American television actresses
- American television reporters and correspondents
- American film actresses
- Television anchors from New York City
- Television anchors from Los Angeles
- Actresses from San Diego
- 1953 births
- Living people
- Television anchors from San Diego
- American disability rights activists
- American actors with disabilities
- American women television journalists
- 21st-century American women writers
- 20th-century American women writers
- Television presenters with disabilities
- American activists with disabilities