Irv Drasnin

Irv Drasnin (born March 18, 1934) is an American journalist, a producer-director-writer of documentary films for CBS News[1] and PBS (Frontline, The American Experience, Nova). Among the awards he has received for broadcast journalism are the duPont-Columbia, the Directors Guild (DGA), the Writers Guild (WGA), and the American Film and Video Blue Ribbon.

Irv Drasnin
Drasnin in 1991
Drasnin in 1991
BornMarch 18, 1934 (1934-03-18) (age 89)
Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.
OccupationJournalist and documentary film producer, director, writer
Alma materUCLA (BA)
Harvard University (MA)
Notable works
  • Misunderstanding China
  • Looking for Mao
  • Apartheid
  • The Guns of Autumn
  • You and the Commercial
  • The Radio Priest
  • The Chip vs. the Chess Master
  • Forever Baseball
  • Health in America
Notable awardsduPont Columbia, Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Emmy
Spouse
Dr. Xiaoyan Zhao
​
(m. 1987)​
Website
irvdrasnin.net

Films
Film Title Year Network
The China Films
Misunderstanding China[2] 1972 CBS News
Shanghai[3] 1974 CBS News
After Mao 1976 CBS News
Looking for Mao[4] 1983 PBS/Frontline
China After Tiananmen[5][6] 1992 PBS/Frontline
The Revolutionary[7] 2012 Independent Documentary Feature
Other Foreign Subjects
Apartheid[8][9] 1988 PBS/Frontline
Who's Got a Right to Rhodesia[10][11] 1977 CBS News
A Black View of South Africa[12] 1970 CBS News
Voices from the Russian Underground[13] 1970 CBS News
Cuba: 10 Years of Castro[14] 1968 CBS News
American Society, Culture and History
Health in America: The Promise and the Practice[15][16] 1970 CBS News
You and the Commercial[17][18][19] 1973 CBS News
The Guns of Autumn[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] 1975 CBS News
Inside the Union[28] 1979 CBS News
New Voices in the South 1971 CBS News
Football: 100 Years Old and Still Kicking[29][30] 1969 CBS News
Back on the Road with Charles Kuralt[31] 1969 CBS News
The Twentieth Century: Synanon in Prison[32] 1966 CBS News
The Chip vs. the Chess Master[33] 1991 PBS/Nova
G-Men: The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover[34][35] 1991 PBS/The American Experience
The Radio Priest[36][37] 1988 PBS/The American Experience
Forever Baseball[38][39] 1989 PBS/The American Experience
The Earthquake is Coming[40] 1987 PBS/Frontline
Hollywood Dreams[41] 1986 PBS/Frontline
Catholics in America: Is Nothing Sacred?[42] 1985 PBS/Frontline
The Other Side of the Track[43] 1984 PBS/Frontline
Eye of the Beholder[44][45] 1981 PBS/Inside Story Special
Where We Fight[46] 1993 The Discovery Channel

Early life

Irv Drasnin was born in Charleston, West Virginia, on March 18, 1934, a son of immigrants: his father, Joseph, a U.S. Treasury Agent, was from Tsarist Russia, as was his mother, Clara Aaron. The family moved to Los Angeles when he was four years old. His oldest brother, Sid, was an architect, remembered (with Lloyd Wright) for the Wayfarer's Chapel in Palo Verdes, California, and for The Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks, California.  His brother Bob played clarinet, sax and flute with the Les Brown Orchestra and Red Norvo quintet among others, performed in Carnegie Hall as a classical musician, was the director of music at CBS, and a composer and teacher.

Education

Drasnin is a graduate of Carthay Center Elementary School, John Burroughs Junior High School and Los Angeles High School (1952). He has a BA in political science from UCLA, where he was student body president (1955–56);[47] editor of The Daily Bruin (for which the paper was awarded an All-American rating as one of the top five college dailies in the country); and Men's Representative to the Student Council (1954). He also was a member of Project India (1954),[48] one of twelve students selected each year to spend the summer in India, speaking about America and interacting with Indian college students.

He has a MA from Harvard in East Asian Studies (1957–59) with a specialization in China. He taught in the Master's Film Program at Stanford University (1980–82).

Career

United Press International
Irv Drasnin speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong (2012)

He began his career as a reporter at United Press International, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the eastern division news headquarters (1959–60), where the stories he covered included the steelworkers strike of 1959, the visits of Soviet leaders Kozlov and Khrushchev, Wightman Cup Tennis. He wrote both for newspapers and radio.

CBS News Broadcasts

In 1961 he was hired by CBS News as a writer for daily news broadcasts, becoming a producer for Calendar, a public affairs program with Harry Reasoner; and the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. His assignments for the evening news covered major news events, including the civil rights movement. He was the producer of CBS News coverage in Selma, Alabama including "Bloody Sunday" (March 1965) and for the Senate passage of the Voting Rights Act that followed. Other assignments included the Republican Convention of 1964, the successful presidential campaign of Lyndon Johnson, the funeral of Winston Churchill in London, the space program (the Mercury 6 flight of Wally Schirra), and the World Series,[49] Dodgers vs the Orioles, Cardinals vs. the Red Sox.

Documentary film years at CBS News and PBS

CBS News, 1966–79. PBS, 1982–92, for Frontline, The American Experience and Nova.

His thirty documentaries include a chronicle of modern China beginning with Misunderstanding China (CBS News), Shanghai (CBS News), Looking for Mao (PBS/Frontline), China After Tiananmen (PBS/Frontline) and The Revolutionary, an independent feature-length film.

When US-China relations were restored in 1972 after a 20-year hiatus, each of the three U.S. television networks was allowed access to film a documentary. Drasnin drew the assignment for CBS News, spending ten-weeks inside the country to make the film Shanghai.[50] In 1991, he reported in depth from China in the wake of the government's violent crackdown on student-led demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, China After Tiananmen.

His foreign reporting[51] also covered southern Africa and the last stands of white colonial rule in Who's Got A Right to Rhodesia (CBS News) and in Apartheid (PBS/Frontline).

Mr. Drasnin's domestic topics include The Guns of Autumn (CBS News), You and the Commercial (CBS News), Health in America (CBS News), Inside the Union (CBS News), The Radio Priest (PBS/The American Experience), The Chip vs The Chess Master (PBS/Nova), and Forever Baseball (PBS/The American Experience.).

Personal life

He is married to Xiaoyan Zhao, former senior vice president and global polling director for New York-based GfK Roper Public Affairs. The couple has lived in New York City (1987–1996) and Hong Kong (1997–1998) where Xiaoyan was the founding managing director of Roper's Asia-Pacific Headquarters. They now reside in Los Altos, California.

Awards
Award Year Film Title
duPont-Columbia Award 1972-73 You and the Commercial
duPont-Columbia Award 1970 Health in America: The Promise and the Practice
Directors Guild 1976 The Guns of Autumn
Writers Guild 1975 The Guns of Autumn
Writers Guild 1989 Apartheid
Writers Guild nomination 1970 Health in America: The Promise and the Practice
Writers Guild nomination 1972 Misunderstanding China
Writers Guild nomination 1990 Forever Baseball
Writers Guild nomination 1991 The Chip vs. The Chess Master
Writers Guild nomination 1993 China After Tiananmen
Emmy Award 1971 A Black View of South Africa
American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon 1988 The Radio Priest
American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon 1990 Forever Baseball
National Educational Film Festival 1993 China After Tiananmen
Christopher Award 1974 You and the Commercial
Christopher Award 1970 A Black View of South Africa
Ohio State Award 1973 You and the Commercial
Saturday Review Award 1970 Voices from the Russian Underground

References
  1. Brown, Les (1977). The New York Times Encyclopedia of Television. Times Books. p. 124.
  2. Bill (February 23, 1972). "Review of Misunderstanding China". Variety.
  3. O'Connor, John J. (1974-03-08). "TV: Battle Behind News". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  4. Unger, Arthur (1983-05-09). "'Frontline' documentary; Searching for Mao's cultural legacy". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  5. Van Horne, Harriet (June 2, 1992). "Review of China After Tiananmen". Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
  6. Goodman, Walter (1992-06-02). "Review/Television; In China, Softening the Hard Line". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  7. Sellers, Irv Drasnin Lucy Ostrander Don, The Revolutionary (Documentary), Stourwater Pictures, retrieved 2021-03-03
  8. Biancullli, David (December 14, 1987). "Review of PBS/Frontline: Apartheid". New York Post.
  9. Mink, Eric (December 14, 1987). "Review of PBS/Frontline: Apartheid". The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  10. O'Connor, John J. (1977-03-28). "TV: A Documentary on Rhodesia". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  11. Van Horne, Harriet (April 4, 1977). "Review of Who's Got a Right to Rhodesia". New York Magazine.
  12. Gardella, Kay (December 16, 1970). "Review of A Black View of South Africa". The New York Daily News.
  13. Roberts, Chalmers M. (July 31, 1970). "Review of Voices from the Russian Underground". The Washington Post.
  14. Musco, Don (November 19, 1968). "Review of Cuba: 10 Years of Castro". The Hollywood Reporter.
  15. Gould, Jack (1970-04-21). "TV: Nixon's Vietnam Talk Assayed by Networks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  16. Shain, Percy (April 21, 1970). "Review of Health in America: The Promise and the Practice". Boston Globe.
  17. O'Connor, John J. (1973-04-26). "TV:Those Commercials". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  18. Sharbutt, Jay (April 26, 1973). "Review of You and the Commercial". Baltimore Sun (Associated Press).
  19. "Review of You and the Commercial". Newsweek. May 7, 1973.
  20. O'Connor, John J. (1975-09-05). "TV: 'Guns of Autumn' Draws a Bead on Hunting". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  21. Adams, Val (September 4, 1975). "Review of The Guns of Autumn". New York Daily News.
  22. Brown, Les (1975-09-06). "CBS Hunting Show Loses Ads After Gun‐Club Calls". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  23. O'Connor, John J. (1975-09-14). "Tv View". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  24. Drasnin, Irv (1975-09-14). "A Producer's View Of 'Guns of Autumn'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  25. Rather, Dan. "The Guns of Autumn". danratherjournalist.org. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  26. "CBS News Special Report: Echoes of The Guns of Autumn (TV)". www.paleycenter.org. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  27. "Directors Guild of America Inc. Award Winners". Variety. March 23, 1976.
  28. Davis, Earl (March 7, 1979). "Review of Inside the Union". The Hollywood Reporter.
  29. Loynd, Ray (October 24, 1969). "Review of Football: 100 Years Old and Still Kicking". Entertainment World.
  30. Page, Don (1969-10-22). "Review of Football: 100 Years Old and Still Kicking". Los Angeles Times.
  31. Kuralt, Charles (1990). A Life on the Road. G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 12.
  32. Van Horne, Harriet (March 14, 1966). "Review of The Twentieth Century: Synanon in Prison". The New York World-Telegram and Sun.
  33. Goodman, Walter (1991-03-26). "Review/Television; Chess Riddle: What Value Calculation? Inspiration?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  34. "Review of G-Men: The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover". Time Magazine. November 18, 1991.
  35. Goodman, Walter (1991-11-18). "Review/Television; The Image and Reality Of Hoover and His F.B.I." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  36. O'Connor, John J. (1988-12-13). "Review/Television; Father Coughlin, 'The Radio Priest'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  37. Van Horne, Harriet (December 10–17, 1988). "Review of The Radio Priest". Total Television.
  38. Rosenberg, Howard (November 7, 1989). "Review of Forever Baseball". Los Angeles Times.
  39. Voorhees, John (November 7, 1989). "Review of Forever Baseball". Seattle Times.
  40. Drasnin, Irv (1987-02-03), The Earthquake Is Coming (Documentary, News), retrieved 2021-03-03
  41. Friendly, David T. (May 13, 1986). "TV REVIEW : DEAL MAKERS ON CAMERA IN 'HOLLYWOOD DREAMS'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  42. Drasnin, Irv (1985-04-23), Catholics in America: Is Nothing Sacred? (Documentary, News), retrieved 2021-03-03
  43. Drasnin, Irv (1984-05-07), The Other Side of the Track (Documentary, News), retrieved 2021-03-03
  44. O'Connor, John J. (1981-12-11). "TV Weekend; VIETNAM VETERANS SPEAK; CHRISTMAS SPECIALS BEGIN". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  45. Legro, Ron (December 12, 1981). "Review of Eye of the Beholder". Milwaukee Sentinel.
  46. Bianculli, David (July 29, 1993). "Review of Why We Fight". New York Daily News.
  47. https://usac.ucla.edu/documents/docs/Historical%20Roster.pdf Archived 2020-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  48. "They Told India the Truth about America". Reader's Digest. May 1955.
  49. Broun, Haywood Hale (1979). Tumultuous Merriment. Richard Marek Publishers, NYC. p. 93.
  50. Terrill, Ross (1975). Flowers on an Iron Tree: Five Cities of China. Little, Brown & Co. pp. 93–94.
  51. Drasnin, Irv (November 12–18, 1977). "The Welcome Mat Was Slippery". TV Guide.
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