- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRobert Breckenridge Ware Macneil
- Nickname
- Robin
- Robert MacNeil was born on January 19, 1931 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a writer and actor, known for Hamlet (2000), The Story of English (1986) and Scarlet Moon (2006). He was married to Donna Joy Nappi, Jane Jacobsen Doherty and Rosemarie Anne Copland. He died on April 12, 2024 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- SpousesDonna Joy Nappi(October 20, 1984 - February 7, 2015) (her death)Jane Jacobsen Doherty(May 29, 1965 - 1983) (divorced, 2 children)Rosemarie Anne Copland(September 1, 1956 - 1964) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenAlison MacNeilWilliam MacNeilCatherine MacNeil
- Deep, booming, resonant voice
- In the summer of 1953 worked as an actor at Priscilla Beach Theatre, one of the oldest barn theatres in New England. Was told by the director that he had to get rid of his Canadian accent.
- He was awarded the O.C. (Officer of the Order of Canada) on October 23, 1997 for his services to journalism.
- On November 22, 1963, MacNeil was covering President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas for NBC News. After shots rang out in Dealey Plaza, MacNeil, who was with the presidential motorcade, followed crowds running onto the Grassy Knoll (he appears in a photo taken just moments after the assassination). He then headed toward the nearest building and encountered a young man leaving the Texas School Book Depository at around 12:33PM CST. He asked the man where the nearest telephone was and the man pointed and went on his way. MacNeil later learned the man he encountered might have been Lee Harvey Oswald.
- A television news anchor, he partnered with Jim Lehrer to create the landmark public television news program The MacNeil/Lehrer Report(later PBS NewsHour) in 1975.
- In 1967, MacNeil began covering American and European politics for the BBC.
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