Tom Ellis, Boston Anchorman, 1932-2019

April 29, 2019 7:38 PM

Legendary Boston Anchorman Tom Ellis has died at the age of 86. He was a very familiar, constant face on local Boston television news, from the 1970's through the 2000's—a fast-shifting era in the history of TV journalism.

The native of Texas also loved to act. He was in a national Anacin commercial, and had bit parts in Marathon Man, among others.

posted by not_on_display (9 comments total)

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posted by Melismata at 8:27 PM on April 29, 2019

In 1982, Channel 7 convinced the Anchorhunk to team up with the Anchorette to take on the Anchorcouple.
posted by adamg at 9:12 PM on April 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

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posted by vrakatar at 12:25 AM on April 30, 2019

An absolute legend, says this Boston native.
posted by andreaazure at 12:26 AM on April 30, 2019

Not this Boston native. He was famous for smirking while announcing bad news like deaths. Got fired from one of the local stations and went to NYC. Later came back on cable news. He apparently developed a technique of biting his lip to suppress the smirk.

Probably a prince of a guy in person, but I never liked to watch him read the news.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:54 AM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Ah, yes. He was a constant.

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posted by xingcat at 5:23 AM on April 30, 2019

As most of the obituaries point out, he is the only person to have anchored at all three Boston affiliate stations. Most of the people from his era have retired or passed away (another long-time Boston broadcaster, Gary LaPierre, passed away recently as well), but there are some old-timers like meteorologist Harvey Leonard still kicking around.
posted by briank at 7:19 AM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

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posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:04 PM on April 30, 2019

Well, silver lining led me to this reunion held last year: the whole WBZ Eyewitness News team from the 80's.
posted by not_on_display at 5:54 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]