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Inga Rundvold

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Inga Rundvold
A smiling white woman with a blond bouffant hairdo, holding pictures of stamps
Rundvold in 1965
Born
Inga Elizabeth Rundvold

(1920-07-03)July 3, 1920
Stryn, Norway
DiedFebruary 4, 2004(2004-02-04) (aged 83)
Richmond, Virginia, US
Occupation(s)Broadcaster, writer

Inga Elizabeth Rundvold (July 3, 1920 – February 4, 2004)[1] was a broadcast reporter and host and one of Washington D.C's first on-air media personalities in the 1950s and 1960s. She is sometime referred to as "DC's First Lady of Television".[2] Rundvold is best known for her television programs Inga's Angle and Let's Go Places on WNBW-TV.[3]

Early life and education

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Born in Stryn, Norway,[4] Rundvold was one of at least three children born to Thomas Rundvold and Malene Nesheim.[5][1] Still an infant when her family relocated to the United States,[4] Rundvold spent her formative years in Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.[5] After graduating from Montgomery Blair High School, she attended the Washington School of Fashion Modeling.[4]

Career

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Remaining in Washington,[a] Rundvold worked as a model until her marriage in 1943,[6][7][8][9] at which point she disappeared from public view for more than three years. Resurfacing in 1946,[11] she soon transitioned to writing about fashion for the Washington Times-Herald,[12] and by March 1947, Rundvold had become the paper's fashion editor.[10]

In 1951, she began hosting, writing, and producing her own show, Inga's Angle (later changed to Today with Inga) which ran for 16 years, the longest running early program of that time. She interviewed many famous people including John F. Kennedy, Bette Davis, Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey, Milton Berle, Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Kim Novak, and Arthur Schlesinger among others. Her on-air persona was warm yet glamorous and she was known for deftly switching quickly from one conversation topic to the next.[13] Besides interviewing political and celebrity guests, the show also had beauty, exercise, and commercial product segments.[4]

Rundvold retired from her show in 1967 and focused her career on travel writing. She produced Let's Go Places a 30-minute show about foreign travel, and freelanced for the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and others.[citation needed] She also helped create the Around the World Venture, an organization promoting U.S. tourism to foreign press and travel offices. In addition, she worked with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and the National Trust for Historic Preservation,[4] and was an active member of the Women's National Press Club,[14]

Personal life and death

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Rundvold was married to her first husband, Lester J. Hook, from 1943 until his death in 1981, and to her second, John J. Kuhn, from 1984 until his death in 1997. She had one child by the first marriage, a daughter.[9][4]

Rundvold died from complications of a stroke on February 4, 2004, in Richmond, Virginia, survived by her daughter, a sister and three grandchildren.[4]

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In the early 1960's, Rundvold hosted a show weekdays beginning at 1:30 P.M. Eastern Time on WRC-TV called "TV BEAUTY SCHOOL."[15] This was regarded by NBC's David Brinkley - based at WRC - as "a remarkably silly fashion show."[16] When news of President John F. Kennedy's shooting reached Brinkley by wire shortly after 1:30, the manager of WRC was out to lunch and no one at the station "knew where he was or would assume responsibility for bouncing the models" from live television.[17] Brinkley could not get on the air at the station or the network nationally for some time. One highly regarded historian of the Kennedy assassination described this as the hour of Brinkley's "'private ordeal'. . . 'With every teletype hammering out history, the monitor in his office continued to present a fashion show.'"[18] Don Pardo's first network bulletin finally broke in to WRC and all network stations at 1:46 and NBC preempted all affiliates with news of the assassination beginning at 1:53. When Brinkley himself finally got on the air shortly after 2:15 PM, he was in a state of what another NBC newscaster described as a state of "controlled panic."[19]

Notes

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  1. ^ Although the Washington Post obituary states that Rundvold moved to New York after completing her education,[4] no such move is confirmed by contemporaneous reports, all of which indicate that she continued to work and reside within the greater Washington metropolitan area.[6][7][8][9][10]

References

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  1. ^ a b "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K46-LMKP : 11 February 2023), Inga Elizabeth Rundvold, .
  2. ^ "Collection: Inga Rundvold papers | Archival Collections". archives.lib.umd.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  3. ^ https://eyeondc.tv/wrc/
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Estrada, Louie (2004-02-08). "Inga Rundvold Hook Kuhn Dies". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  5. ^ a b "United States Census, 1940", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7FF-KVC : Sun Mar 10 22:27:29 UTC 2024), Entry for Thomas Rundvold and Malene Rundvold, 1940.
  6. ^ a b "Style Show to Be Given". Washington Evening Star. February 23, 1939. p. 37. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Hey, Kids, Here's Your Castor Oil". Springfield News-Sun. December 17, 1940. p. 20. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "First Glimpse". The Atlanta Constitution. May 23, 1942. p. 1. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c "Marriage License Applications". The Washington Evening Star. January 27, 1943. p. B-9. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Listen, Lady". Washington Times-Herald. March 26, 1947. p. 16. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  11. ^ Walsh, Lee (July 1, 1946). "Local Designer Opens D.C.'s First Couturier Design Studio". The Washington Daily News. p. 30. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  12. ^ Rundvold, Inga (July 14, 1947). "Preview: You Have Two Choices This Fall--To Be Spindle-Slim or Round as a Doll". Washington Times-Herald. p. . Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  13. ^ "Inga Rundvold Hook-Kuhn". Style Weekly. February 11, 2004. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  14. ^ "Press Gals Rib Capital Brass". New York Daily News. May 17, 1957. p. C5. ProQuest 2279774232. With many of the satirized victims looking on as guests of honor, the Women's National Press Club tonight threw its entire harpoon at the government's top newsmakers [...] Reporters Patricia Wiggins (left) and Inga Rundvold impersonate Mamie Eisenhower and Ike in 'My Unfair Ladies' at stunt party.
  15. ^ ebay.com/itm/174596664441
  16. ^ The Death of a President; William Manchester, Harper and Row, 1967, p. 144.
  17. ^ Manchester, p. 190.
  18. ^ Manchester, p. 190.
  19. ^ Manchester, p. 190.
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