Biography
David Downs Hartman is an American journalist and media broadcaster who started his career as an actor in the entertainment industry. He currently anchors and hosts History and PBS documentary series. From 1975 through 1987, Hartman was the inaugural host of ABC’s Good Morning America.
In the 1970s, Hartman starred as Dr. Paul Hunter, a young resident on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, and as a teacher in the sitcom Lucas Tanner. In 1973, he starred in the television remake of Miracle on 34th Street.
Hartman debuted on Broadway in two productions: the original Hello, Dolly! in 1964 and The Yearling in 1965. (1965). He returned to television after roles in films such as The Ballad of Josie (1967), Nobody’s Perfect (1968), and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (1968).
Moreover, in 1969, he was featured in The Virginian and gained fame as a dedicated doctor on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. In the industrial musical Diesel Dazzle, David co-starred with Hal Linden in the starring role (1966).
Hartman also guest-starred on several renowned TV shows, including Marcus Welby, M.D., The Name of the Game, Ironside, and The Carol Burnett Show, as the role David Sutton in over two dozen episodes of the television series The Virginian.
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Hartman starred as an enraged pilot whose wife was kidnapped by criminals in a made-for-TV pilot film for San Francisco International in 1970. Along with Jane Alexander and Sebastian Cabot, he starred in Miracle on 34th Street, a TV adaptation of the holiday classic, in 1973. The next year, he played an archaeological professor in the Disney film The Island at the Top of the World.
Similarly, David starred as a retired baseball player turned unusual high-school teacher in the 1974-75 NBC series Lucas Tanner. His acting career came to an end with the discontinuation of this series.
Moreover, Hartman joined ABC’s rebranded morning news show, Good Morning America (1975–1987), as the first male co-host on November 3, 1975. GMA was frequently the highest-rated morning news program on network television throughout his 11 years as a co-host. Despite his lack of journalism experience, Hartman conducted over 12,000 interviews professionally throughout his stint on the show.
“Make it a good day today,” Hartman would say at the end of every Good Morning America show. “My daily sign-off phrase, ‘Make it a nice day today,’ represented ‘GMA’s’ ideals and the belief that every one of us can touch our lives in a positive way, that our program was, we believed, a public service,” David said in a statement prepared for the 30th anniversary “GMA” broadcast in 2005.
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Furthermore, Hartman has worked as an anchor and host for the Discovery Channel and WNET, a PBS member station in New York City, on a number of documentaries. The PBS documentaries, produced by James Nicoloro, are a series of “Walk Through” documentaries about various communities in New York City, including A Walk Down 42nd Street (August 1998), A Walk Up Broadway (March 1999), A Walk Through Harlem (December 1999), A Walk Around Brooklyn with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis (2000), A Walk Through Greenwich Village (2001), A Walk Through Central Park (2001), A Walk Through Newark (2002), A Walk Through Hoboken (2003), A Walk Through Queens (2004), A Walk Through the Bronx (2005), and A Walk Around Staten Island (2007).
David is also the host of the North Carolina Symphony radio broadcasts on North Carolina Public Radio and WCPE-FM in North Carolina. Hartman would be nominated for multiple Emmys and journalistic honors for his work on television documentaries.
Hartman received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Broadcasters in 2017.
David Hartman Age
Hartman is 89 years old. He was born David Downs Hartman on May 19, 1935, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States. In addition, his zodiac sign is Taurus.
David’s nationality is American.
David Hartman Family
Hartman is the son of Fannie Rodman (Downs) and Cyril Baldwin Hartman and was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He is of German ancestry. Hartman went to Mount Hermon School (now Northfield Mount Hermon) in high school and aspired to play professional baseball.
David rejected a baseball scholarship to attend Duke University, where he studied economics. He joined the Sigma Chi fraternity and the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity. After college, he served as an officer in the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force for three years.
He worked as a supply officer at Dow AFB in Bangor, Maine, and appeared in several local musicals, including Oklahoma!, in which he played Curly. David performed in Mister Roberts, South Pacific, and Kismet at the Surflight Summer Theatre in Beach Haven, New Jersey, during the summer of 1960.
David Hartman Wife
From 1974 to 1997, Hartman was married to Maureen Downey, who died on September 17, 1997. He married Mary Clark Putman, a widowed homemaker, on September 22, 2001. Hartman and Mary have one child. David’s first marriage resulted in four children, Bridget, Conor, Brian, and Sean.
Height
Hartman stands at a height of 6 feet, 5 inches (1.96 m).
Salary
Hartman earns an average annual salary of between $54,000 -$120,000.
David Hartman Net Worth
Hartman has an estimated net worth of $4 million. David’s fortune stems from his career as a journalist, media host, and former actor.