Archive-name: personalities/lynne-russell
Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 18-Jan-97 URL: http://www.io.com/~shiva/lrFAQ.html See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge alt.fan.lynne-russell -- Frequently Asked Questions 1. Who is Lynne Russell? Lynne Russell is the weekday evening anchor for CNN's Headline News, on which she has appeared since 1983. Her time slot is 7-11 PM (Eastern). 2. What makes Lynne more special than other news anchors? There are many answers to this question. Beauty, quirkiness, class, sexiness, professionalism, warmth, humor, grace, spirit, the list goes on. As an article in the Saturday Evening Post said, "Her style is distinctive. Whereas others are primarily composed and favor a clipped, oracular delivery, Russell is personal, almost conversational, and has a powerful, kinetic presence she cannot quite contain. Whether it's a half-smile, an arched brow, or the toss of a shoulder, there is a restless physicality about her." 3. What Lynne resources are available on the net? + alt.fan.lynne-russell, a Usenet newsgroup created in January 1995 + The Lynne Russell Resource, by J.A. Ollinger; bibliography and research sources <http://www.speedlink.com/jao/lynne.htm> + CNN's web site, Anchors & Reporters section; brief biography and career summary <http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/russell.html> + Lynne Russell: A Truly Unique Individual, a web page by Brian Lev <http://www.his.com/~blev/lynnepages.html> + The alt.fan.lynne-russell Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file (which is also available in HTML format), maintained by Earl Cooley III <ftp://ftp.io.com/pub/usr/shiva/lrFAQ.txt>, <http://www.io.com/~shiva/lrFAQ.html>. With any kind of luck, it should be downloadable from the RTFM FAQ archives soon (details as they become available). 4. What are her background and vital statistics? Lynne Russell was born in Orange, New Jersey, to John Russell and Carmela Pasqualina Evangelista on November 1, 1946. Her father was a career army officer, so her family moved frequently while she was growing up. She studied nursing at the University of Colorado, but later pursued a broadcasting career at a small radio station. Lynne then got a radio job in Miami, where she met her current husband, Jim Dunlap. They married in 1978. That same year was her first TV news job, in Jacksonville, and over the next several years she did TV news in Boston, Honolulu, and San Antonio, until landing the job in Atlanta with the young Headline News in 1983. + Lynne has a son, John, born circa 1971 from a brief first marriage. + Her height is 5' 9". + Hair: red/brown. Eyes: dark brown. + Her ancestry is Italian on her mother's side. + She's a vegetarian. + Her salary is in the six-figure range. + Favorite anchor: Roger Mudd. 5. What are her activities and interests outside of CNN? One of the fascinating aspects of Lynne's life is that she has some unusual hobbies and moonlights in some unexpected professions. "She has a lot of different passions," says co-worker Chuck Roberts. Lynne says, "I can't imagine doing any one thing. Why should you have to?" She is a: + Deputy Sheriff: Lynne is a volunteer deputy for the Fulton County Sheriff's Department. She wears a full uniform, carries a gun, and performs such duties as providing security for public events, screening visitors at the county jail, and occasionally directing traffic. + Private Investigator and Bodyguard: A licensed P.I., Lynne works part-time for the United Security Group (unpaid, so as not to be a conflict of interest with CNN). For example, she does investigation and surveillance of fraudulent injury claimants and unfaithful spouses and has served as a bodyguard for celebrities visiting Atlanta. + Martial Artist: Lynne has been involved in martial arts for about 20 years, starting with Shotokan Karate and more recently studying a Korean form called Choi Kwang Do which emphasizes the reduction of the risk of injury during training. She has a second-degree black belt and trains regularly. 6. Could Lynne kick my butt? Almost certainly. Lynne's extensive experience in martial arts would make her a formidable foe. Says her instructor, "In the classroom a lot of the male population, they're actually pretty frightened of her." Aside from that, she's licensed to carry a handgun; specifically, she packs a SIG-Sauer P230 9mm short semiautomatic pistol and knows how to use it. But we are fortunate in that Lynne uses her powers for good instead of evil. 7. Does Lynne really have a tattoo? Yes, on the inside of her left forearm. It is a yellow circle containing an orange mark, a black figure of a dragon, and black Korean characters which read as "Pil Sung." Pil Sung is a motto for Choi Kwang Do and translates as "Certain Victory." Lynne got the tattoo to celebrate attaining her first-degree black belt in 1994. 8. Have there been any magazine articles about Lynne? Features on Lynne have appeared in the following magazines: + People Weekly, June 27, 1994. "Here Now, the Sleuth," p. 61. + Atlanta, April 1995. "CNN's Secret Agent," p. 40. + The Saturday Evening Post, June 1995. "Lynne Russell: CNN's Straight-Shooting Anchorwoman," p. 34. + An article about Lynne appeared in the November 13th, 1996 edition of the hypertrendoid webzine Suck, a self-proclaimed "experiment in provocation, mordant deconstructionism, and buzz-saw journalism." Some of it was actually about Lynne, but it tended to diverge into odd topics such as modern primitivism and posthuman psychology. + An article which mentioned Lynne appeared in Salon, a webzine owned by Borders Books & Music; in a FAQ-like discussion of television, Joyce Millman says of Lynne, "Her dark, manicured eyebrows are mobile arches of silent editorial commentary." The text of each has been posted to Usenet or the Web and is reposted occasionally. 9. What TV appearances has she made other than CNN? + Lynne appeared as a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on 7/25/94. She caused a bit of a stir by hiking up her miniskirt in the middle of the interview to reveal her trusty 9mm pistol in a thigh holster. In addition, she repeatedly referred to her boss Ted Turner's wife Jane Fonda as "Barbarella." + In the spring of '95, Lynne was profiled on the entertainment news show EXTRA. They showed her at work at CNN, practicing martial arts in the gym, and patrolling the streets of Atlanta as a deputy sheriff. + In the summer of '96, Lynne made an appearance on the Crook & Chase show in her Fulton County deputy's uniform; she frisked Charlie Chase, got him down on his knees, handcuffed him and read him his rights: "You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to color tv, you have the right to sing the blues..." 10. Any Lynne pics on the net? Pictures have been scanned from the Saturday Evening Post article, and the jpegs are posted to alt.binaries.pictures.celebrities and alt.binaries.pictures.misc on occasion. A series of video captures from the EXTRA show mentioned above were also recently posted. The CNN web site has a single medium-quality black and white pic of Lynne (although it is better than the low-quality pic of Lynne they had before, we want more, CNN!). Some of the online resources listed above have a few pictures of Lynne. 11. Are there any "Headline Nudes" in existence? Rumor has it that Playboy offered Lynne big bucks to pose nude, but she declined. Although not nude, the most erotic pictures of Lynne are from Atlanta magazine, where she is clad in tight patent leather, wears her gun as an accessory, and shows quite a bit of black-stockinged, stiletto-heeled leg. 12. What's with the hair? Unlike most anchorwomen, Lynne is known to change her hairstyle frequently. To quote Atlanta magazine, "Russell's may be the most carefully scrutinized television 'do' since Howard Cosell put on a rug. Even casual viewers note that one night Russell looks carefully coiffed and the next as if she forgot to wear a shower cap -- which is what, in fact, sometimes happens. "'Regarding my hair,' volunteers Russell, accustomed to comments, 'I have no control over it. I'm just wearing it.'" Her color is primarily dark red, although even that is variable -- at one time during the 80's she even had a very brief stint as a blonde. Some have theorized that she may sometimes wear wigs on the air, but this has not been confirmed. Also, she sometimes wears (and always looks good in) glasses on-air, something that is seen on few other female anchors. 13. Is Lynne herself on the net? Unknown. She supposedly knows of the existence of alt.fan.lynne-russell, though -- one of her CNN co-workers discovered the group shortly after its creation and posted, saying he would give Lynne printouts of the posts. But we can only speculate if this is an ongoing thing, or if Lynne might even read the group herself (after all, they do have that laptop on the anchor desk...). 14. How can I contact Lynne? The general email address for comments about all CNN shows and stories is cnn.feedback@cnn.com, and the snail mail address for Lynne's show would be: CNN Headline News One CNN Center P.O. Box 105366 Atlanta, GA 30348 Beyond that, you should respect Lynne's privacy. She has had bad experiences in the past regarding obsessed fans. Quoting from Atlanta magazine, "She has had men stalk her, including one from New England who traveled to New York and Washington before he realized she was in Atlanta. When he finally found his way here, he was arrested, convicted and sent to jail." Anyone with similar ideas is referred to question #6. Further, "... the network gets more requests for pictures of Russell than anyone. Unfortunately, says Russell, some 'you'd want to handle with gloves. They're disgusting.'" So keep it nice. 15. What are Lynne's plans for the future? In 1995 Lynne signed a five-year contract with CNN (her longest ever). So we should continue seeing Lynne at least until the end of the century. Please e-mail comments about this FAQ to Earl Cooley III at shiva@io.com. This file was last updated on Saturday, 18-Jan-97 14:46:46 CST. -- \ | Earl Cooley III * shiva@io.com * <url:http://www.io.com/~shiva/> | / \| Online Liaison, the 55th Worldcon: LoneStarCon 2, Aug 28-Sep 1, 1997 |/ /| LSC2 e-mail: lsc2@io.com LSC2 WWW: <url:http://www.io.com/~lsc2/> |\ / | The Virtual SMOF-BBS: <url:http://www.io.com/~shiva/SMOF-BBS.html> | \ \ | alt.fan.lynne-russell FAQ: <url:http://www.io.com/~shiva/lrFAQ.html> | / User Contributions:
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