SOB SISTERS:
THE IMAGE OF THE FEMALE JOURNALIST
IN POPULAR CULTURE

© Joe Saltzman and the IJPC

IJPC Experts Offer Their Top
Sob Sister Films,TV Programs and Fiction

Contributors:
• Joe Saltzman, director of the IJPC, USC Annenberg
• Richard R. Ness, Western Illinois University
• Howard Good, State University of New York at New Paltz
• Paul E. Schindler, Jr., the man behind www.schindler.org/movie/shtml

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Joe Saltzman's Top Sob Sister Films and TV Programs

Joe Saltzman is director of the IJPC, associate dean and professor of journalism at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, and author of Frank Capra and the Image of the Journalist in American Film.

Joan Crawford is Bonnie Jordan, cub reporter in
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)

Fay Wray is Marsha Collins, reporter, The Press in
Finger Points, The (1931)

Loretta Young is Gallagher, reporter in
Platinum Blonde (1931)

Noel Neill is Lois Lane, reporter, Daily Planet, 1948-1950; 1952-1957 (T)
Phyllis Coates is Lois Lane, reporter, Daily Planet and Noel Neill is Lois Lane, reporter, Daily Planet (1952) (T)
Margot Kidder is Lois Lane, reporter, Daily Planet (1978-1987)
Teri Hatcher is Lois Lane, reporter, Daily Planet (1993-1996) (T)
Dana Delany is Lois Lane, reporter, Daily Planet (voice-only cartoon, 1996-2000 (C)
Superman (1931-2000)

Bette Davis is Ellen Garfield, reporter, Daily Star in
Front Page Woman (1935)

Jean Arthur is Louise "Babe" Bennett, reporter in
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Joan Blondell is Timmy Blake, reporter, Morning Express in
Back in Circulation (1937)

Glenda Farrell is Torchy Blane, reporter, Morning Herald in
Torchy Blane (1937-1939)

Bonita Granville is Nancy Drew, cub reporter, Tribune in
Nancy Drew, Reporter (1939)

Barbara Stanwyck is Ann Mitchell, reporter, The Bulletin in
Meet John Doe (1940)

Rosalind Russell is Hildy Johnson, reporter in
His Girl Friday (1940)

Joan Woodbury as Brenda Starr, reporter in
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945)

Barbara Stanwyck is Elizabeth Lane, columnist, Smart Housekeeping Magazine
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Angela Lansbury is Kay Thorndyke, publisher, Thorndyke Publications in
State of the Union (1948)

Barbara Stanwyck is Regina Forbes, syndicated columnist in
To Please a Lady (1950)

Patricia Neal is Alice Kingsly, reporter, Cumberly Press in
Washington Story (1952)

Claudette Colbert is Prudence Webb, editor-publisher, Clarion, Fort Ralston, Texas in
Texas Lady (1955)

Mary Tyler Moore is Mary Richards, associate producer, WJM News in
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The (1970-1977)

Shirley Jones is Jenny Dolan, reporter in
Lives of Jenny Dolan, The (1975)

Jane Fonda is Kimberly Wells, TV reporter-anchor, KXLA, Channel 3
China Syndrome, The (1979)

Sally Field is Megan Carter, reporter, Miami Sentinel
Absence of Malice (1981)

Holly Hunter is Jane Craig, producer, TV network news
Broadcast News (1987)

Candice Bergen is Murphy Brown, reporter-interviewer, FYI newsmagazine, CBS News, Washington, D.C.
Faith Ford is Corky Sherwood, reporter, FYI newsmagazine
Murphy Brown (1988-1998) (T)

Jamie Lee Curtis is Hannah Miller, researcher than writer, and
Ann Magnuson is Catherine Hughes, editor, Chicago Weekly magazine in
Anything But Love (1989-1992) (T)

Farrah Fawcett is Margaret Bourke-White, the pioneering female photojournalist in
Margaret Bourke-White (1989)

Nicole Kidman is Suzanne Stone, weathercaster in
To Die For (1995)

Michelle Pfeiffer is Tally Atwater, TV news reporter and anchor in
Up Close & Personal (1996)

Courteney Cox is Gale Weathers, field reporter for Top Story in
Scream (1996), Scream II, Scream III (2000)

Sarah Jessica Parker is Carrie Bradshaw, New York columnist
Sex and the City (1999-2002) (T)

Drew Barrymore is Josie "Josie Grossie" Geller in
Never Been Kissed (1999)

Nora Dunn is Adriana Cruz, TV correspondent in
Three Kings (1999)