Liz Wickersham

Liz Wickersham is an American television personality best known for her 17-year stint as the host of CNN's entertainment newsmagazine "Showbiz Today".

Liz Wickersham grew up in Orange, Texas, where her father, Charlie Wickersham, owned a local automobile dealership. After attending the University of Texas, she moved to Georgia and, in 1976, won the Miss Georgia USA beauty pageant, going on to compete in the Miss USA pageant, where she was selected as "Miss Photogenic" and ultimately placed in the semi-finals. [ [http://www.missgeorgiausa.com/halloffame.html Winners of the Miss Georgia USA Pageant] ] Following this, she briefly worked for Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson in Washington, DC. Her father was both a major Democratic contributor and the seller of the second-hand Lincoln automobiles that Wilson preferred. She later appeared as the cover model for the April 1981 issue of "Playboy" magazine.

Shortly thereafter, she had a formal introduction to CNN creator Ted Turner, who offered her an on-air position with the fledgling network. Her broadcasting profile soon rose considerably after being selected in 1982 to interview Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at his presidential palace following an invitation he issued to CNN. She returned to Cuba for a follow-up interview with Castro in 1984. Her hometown paper, "The Orange Leader", published a front-page story about the interviews ("Encounters of the Castro Kind" by Gary Perilloux).

From 1984 until 2001, Liz Wickersham hosted the CNN program "Showbiz Today" (modeled on syndication's successful "Entertainment Tonight") which featured entertainment industry news. She also served for five years as the host of WTBS's Sunday-morning magazine program "Good News", produced by the husband-and-wife TV writing team of Bonnie and Terry Turner.

Liz Wickersham is married to attorney Paul Derounian and lives in Manhattan.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=1234897|name=Liz Wickersham