First Zindler, now Tom Snyder. A lot of you youngsters won't remember him. http://www.knbc.com/entertainment/13779880/detail.html Broadcaster Tom Snyder Dies At 71 His Smoke-Filled Interviews Were Late-Night Staple SAN FRANCISCO -- Talk show host Tom Snyder, whose smoke-filled interviews were a staple of late night television, has died after a struggle with leukemia. He was 71. Snyder died Sunday in San Francisco from complications associated with leukemia, said his longtime producer and friend Mike Horowicz. Known for his improvised, casual style and robust laughter, Snyder conducted a number of memorable interviews as host of NBC's "The Tomorrow Show." Among his guests were John Lennon, Charles Manson and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. Click here to find out more! Snyder began his career as a radio reporter in Milwaukee in the early 1960s, and eventually moved to local television news. He anchored newscasts in Philadelphia and Los Angeles before moving to late night. "He loved the broadcast business," said Marciarose Shestack, who co-anchored a noontime newscast with Snyder at KYW-TV in Philadelphia in the 1960s. "He was very surprising and very irreverent and not at all a typical newscaster." In 1972, Snyder left news to host "The Tomorrow Show," which followed "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. His catch phrase for the show was: "Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air." Snyder smoked throughout his show, the cigarette cloud swirling around him during interviews. Snyder gained more fame when Dan Ackroyd lampooned him in the early days of Saturday Night Live. Horowicz met Snyder in 1982. He worked with Snyder at WABC in New York and then produced the "Tom Snyder" television show. "He was a great guy and very talented," said Horowicz, who learned the news from Snyder's longtime girlfriend. In 1995, Snyder returned to late night television as the host of "The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder" on CBS. The program followed David Letterman's "Late Show" until 1998, when Snyder left the program and was replaced by Craig Kilborn. In 2005, Snyder announced on his Web site he had chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He expressed hope that treatments would keep him alive. "When I was a kid leukemia was a death sentence. Now, my doctors say it's treatable! With pills or chemotherapy or a combination of both," he wrote. Snyder is survived by his daughter and longtime girlfriend, who live in the Bay Area.
I always liked his interviews. He seemed to be more intelligent than the average TV talk personality. I also had no idea he was 71. He looked alot younger than his age. Rest in peace.
I used to go to sleep as a kid listening to either Snyder, the Rockets, or Larry King (or whoever replaced them on a day off... ). Wow, rough week for some of my childhood memories.
