PAGE, George H. 1935-2006
(George Henson Page)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born March 31, 1935, in Hartwell, GA; died of cancer, June 28, 2006, in Equinunk, PA. Journalist, broadcaster, television producer, and author. Page was best known for his work for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), especially as creator and host of the television series Nature. From his teen years he was interested in broadcasting, and because his voice matured at an early age, he was able to get his first job in radio at the age of fourteen, when he hosted Obituary Column of the Air for a Georgia station. A 1957 graduate of Emory University, he was hired by WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, as a reporter in 1959, later becoming a foreign correspondent for the National Broadcasting Corp. By the late 1960s, he was directing and appearing in documentaries, including We Won't Go (1968), which concerned Vietnam War draft resisters. Joining PBS in 1972, Page was assistant to the president in Washington, DC, and in 1973 he joined Channel 13, the PBS affiliate in New York City. He worked for the station until 1998, with his best-known role being creator and host of Nature, beginning in 1982. The show, which in an innovative twist often just showed images and sounds of wildlife without any narration whatsoever, won Emmy Awards in 1987 and 1988. Among his other projects were Picasso: A Painter's Diary (1980), Fred Astaire: Change Partners and Dance (1980), which earned him his first Emmy, and The Brain (1983), all of which he executive produced. After leaving television in 1998, Page published his Inside the Animal Mind: A Groundbreaking Exploration of Animal Intelligence (1999).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, July 5, 2006, section 2, p. 12. Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2006, p. B12.

New York Times, July 2, 2006, p. A20.