Linda EllerbeeBirth Place: Bryan, Texas, USA Date of Birth: August 15, 1944 Heritage: American Contact Linda Ellerbee | 
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Nick News Background: “We call them Twinkies. You've seen them on television acting the news, modeling and fracturing the news while you wonder whether they've read the news - or if they've blow-dried their brains, too.” Linda Ellerbee American broadcast journalist, producer and host who got her start as a DJ in Chicago Linda Ellerbee received prominence in the 1970s and 1980s for her tenures as a correspondent on NBC News Washington (1976), co-anchor on “Weekend” (1978-1979) as well as co-anchor and reporter of “NBC News Overnight” (1982-1986), which nabbed a duPont Columbia Award. However, she is maybe best recalled as the host of the Nickelodeon children's news program “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” (1992-present), produced by Lucky Duck Productions, a company she established in 1987. Also serving as writer and executive producer, Ellerbee jointly picked up two Emmy Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award and in 1999, she personally won a Peabody Award. She took home a 2004 Daytime Emmy Award for producing the series “When I Was a Girl” (2001). The reputable and vocal journalist published an autobiography called “And So It Goes” in 1986. It was followed by “Move on: Adventures in the Real World” in 1992 and “Take Big Bites: Adventures Around the World and Across the Table” in 2006. Besides, she has written “Girl Reporter,” an eight-part books for young people, and a syndicated newspaper column. Now a widow, Ellerbee has been married four times. Born Linda Jane Smith, she took the professional name “Ellerbee” from third husband Tom Ellerbee, whom she married from 1973 to 1975.
Childhood and Family: Linda Jane Smith, who would later be popular as Linda Ellerbee, was born on Bryan, Texas, in August 15, 1944. She was educated at River Oaks Elementary School, Lanier Middle School and Lamar High School in Houston. From 1962 to 1964, she spent her time studying at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. A four-time divorcee, Linda married for the first time with Mac Smith in 1964, but the marriage only lasted for two years. She then tied the knot with second husband Van Veselka on March 7, 1968, but divorced in 1971 after having together for three years. Linda lived with third husband Tom Ellerbee, whose surname she has professionally used until now, from June 30, 1973 to July 31, 1975. Her romantic life has also been linked to John David Klein, from whom she separated in 1983.
Career: A Texas native, Linda Ellerbee began her show business career as a disc jockey at WSOM Chicago when she was 20 years old. After working there for a year, she moved on to become a program director at KSJO San Francisco (1967-1968) and then a reporter at KJNO Juneau, Alaska (1969-1972). After serving as a news writer in Dallas, she returned to Texas where she found work as a TV reporter at the Houston-based KHOU and stayed there for a year (1972-1973). From 1973 to 1976, she served as General assignment reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City. Ellerbee's TV career started to take off when she was recruited as an NBC News Washington correspondent in 1976. Within two years, she made her debut as a co-anchor on the NBC short-lived news magazine show “Weekend,” with which she stayed from 1978 to 1979 and noted with her closing “And so it goes.” Following a stint as a correspondent at “NBC Nightly News” (1979-1982), Ellerbee returned to the anchor chair in 1982 for an overnight news broadcast called “NBC News Overnight.” Despite its acclaim concept, for which the show won the duPont Columbia Awards for “the best written and most intelligent news program ever,” “NBC News Overnight” was unsuccessful with the audience and was canceled in 1986. In the meantime, she also co-anchored NBC's “Summer Sunday” (1984) and was a reporter/correspondent for the morning talk show “NBC News Today” (1984-1986). Ellerbee ended her affiliation with NBC in 1986 to work with the rival network ABC. With ABC, she was an anchor and host of “Our World” (1986-1987), a short-lived primetime historical series, and a reporter at the morning program “Good Morning America” (1986-1987). She departed the network in 1987 and shortly thereafter, she co-founded a TV production company called “ Lucky Duck Productions,” with business partner Rolfe Tessem. The rest of the decade saw Ellerbee serve as a commentator on “Esquire: About Men, for Women” (1989) and make a self-appearance in a 1989 episode of the TV sitcom “Murphy Brown.” The president of Lucky Duck Productions secured huge success with the company's produced program “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee,” which debuted in 1992. A news program for children which is aired on Nickelodeon, “Nick News” has won several awards, including three Emmys for Outstanding Children's Program (1998, 2002, 2005), a 1995 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series and three Peabody Awards, one of which given personally to Ellerbee for her coverage of the Clinton investigation. In addition to becoming the host of the show, Ellerbee also has served as a writer and executive producer. In 1996, Ellerbee wrote and hosted an Internet interview program called “On the Record,” which was produced by Microsoft and her company. She narrated, penned and executive produced the documentary “Addicted” (1997) and produced the miniseries “Oh What a Time It Was” (1999). For her work in Women’s Entertainment network series “When I Was a Girl” (2001), in which she served as an executive producer, Ellerbee co-won a 2004 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Series. She has also lent her producing talents for the documentary series “Intimate Portrait” (2001-2003), the cable TV documentary “Feeding the Beast: The 24-Hour News Revolution” (2004), the specials “Inside TV Land: Primetime Politics” (2004, also as a writer) and “Inside TV Land: Tickled Pink” (2005), and “Animal Planet Report” (2005). Ellerbee hosted the documentary show “Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution'” in 2005 and was a narrator in “Keeper of the Flame” (2005) and “Harriet Van Meter: A Life Extraordinary” (2006). In 2007, she appeared as herself in the Emmy nominated documentary “Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed.” Ellerbee has maintained her hosting gig in “Nick News” until now.
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