Morgan Freeman Replaces Walter Cronkite's Voice in Katie Couric Intro

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Jan 4th 2010 05:41PM

Nearly six months after Walter Cronkite's death, his voice is leaving the 'CBS Evening News.'

His introduction of anchor Katie Couric was replaced Monday by a voiceover featuring actor Morgan Freeman.

The legendary CBS News anchor's voice was played at the beginning of most newscasts when Couric started at CBS in 2006. Cronkite's voice was kept on the air even after his death July 17.

"As comforting as it is to look back on the great career that Walter had, we're looking forward now and we just felt it was the right time to make the move that at some point had to be made," said CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus. "This seemed like the appropriate time since Walter's passing to make the move."

Having Freeman on board gives CBS the flexibility to record different intros when Couric has special reports and is on location, he said.

CBS has replaced Cronkite with a generic voice over the past few months when it wanted to highlight something special.

The change also gives the network more consistency, McManus said.

The Oscar-winning actor isn't the only star to lend his voice for news promos. According to Gawker, Michael Douglas opens 'NBC Nightly News' and 'Dirty Jobs' star Mike Rowe does the same for ABC.

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Tags: cbs evening news, CbsEveningNews, dirty jobs, DirtyJobs, katie couric, KatieCouric, Michael Douglas, MichaelDouglas, mike rowe, MikeRowe, Morgan Freeman, MorganFreeman, NBC Nightly News, NbcNightlyNews, walter cronkite, WalterCronkite

Comments

(55)

Monday 04 January

By leroy

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Oh Great .. All we need is some cheater with a bum hand to do voice overs..UH UH UH ..WHAT ?? FIRST AGAIN ?? YEAHHHHH !! YOU KNOW IT..

Tuesday 05 January

By Wish Belkin

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What the heck, why not Queen Latifa?
CBS's credibility is shot to hell anyway.

By ChrisEch

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Leroy, get a life!

By Ginger Root

So the article is about CBS, but neither video offers CBS's voice over. Yeah, that was helpful.

By nick

I say they should use KATHY GRIFFIN.

By David

So replace the voice of the "Most Trusted Man In America" with the voice of a man who is ENGAGED -- TO -- HIS -- STEP-GRANDAUGHTER!

Makes perfect sense to me.

With decisions like this it's no wonder CBS is a sinking ship.

By Declined

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Who cares about his personal life? He's talented and he has got a great voice. Why do we get so hung up on other people's personal lives?

By lk

what about his affair with the step-grand daughter cbs. they should have kept the dead walter rather than this grandpa groper. what is cbs thinking?

By walt

Exactly. The man is selling his persona, his life, his meaning. CBS is just following suit, why even listen to this trash????

By katie01967

CBS is distancing itself from its past of being a credible news source. The article quotes CBS as saying "the change was inevitable, so might as well do it after Walter died." Why was it inevitable? It was a voice. CBS is so tied to its left leaning ideology that it needs an actor to be its voice. Talk about a slap in the face of other former living CBS newsmen like Roger Mudd.

By MIKE ZVIRBLIS

I PREFER IF THE VOICE WAS THAT OF STEWIE GRIFFIN.

By Nancy

He is a wonderful talent with an amazing voice. That's all I need to know. His personal life is his business. So what if he is engaged to a younger woman of no blood relation. Men do it all the time. Where's the scandal in that?

Exactly!

By r

albert enstein married his cousin so did franklian roosevelt

By bd55pack18

"...and that's the way it is, Monday, January 4th, 2010. This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News, goodnight."
and you won't hear those words, or Mr. Cronkite's voice, again, on CBS. What a shame...

By richardr

bad move from an obsolete station.
would be different if they substituted him with another amazing, historic, relevant newsman.

but he's an actor, so it's really out of context.
they figure he's popular. just like the mentality of
the box office.

By miss millie

How about some real change? A white woman introducing a network news show

By dorothea donegan

never mind, morgan. anybody born on june 1, is
okay by me. i was born on that day. too

By Lakergregg

woo-hoo june 1 me too!

By Laytha Collins

Wasn't James Earl Jones available? Now that is an authoritative voice!

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