Veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost dies at 74 after suffering heart attack on board cruise liner Queen Elizabeth
- Sir David Frost has died from a heart attack at the age of age of 74
- He had been giving a speech on the Queen Elizabeth on Saturday
- Forced President Nixon to admit involvement in Watergate Scandal
- Has been described a 'fearsome interviewer' by David Cameron
- Sir Michael Parkinson said he 'never said a nasty word' about anyone
Veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost has died from a heart attack while on a luxury liner – far from specialised medical assistance.
Sir David, 74, was on the Queen Elizabeth on its way from Southampton to Lisbon, preparing to give a talk later in the cruise about his career, when he collapsed on Saturday night.
The Cunard line refused to say what emergency medical treatment he received on board. But NHS advice makes clear that only specialist hospitals are likely to have the facilities to treat major heart attacks.
In particular, the ‘gold standard’ response involves a primary angioplasty – in which a wire frame called a stent is inserted to keep open a blocked artery – within two-and-a-half hours of an attack.
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Veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost has died of a heart attack at 74. Pictured with wife Carin
It is thought unlikely that the small medical centre on a cruise liner would have the equipment necessary for such a treatment. The Queen Elizabeth is understood to have two doctors on board and three nurses.
Last night a Cunard spokesman refused to give details of Sir David’s treatment for reasons of confidentiality.
‘However, we have a full medical team on board and are well equipped to treat the range of patients that present from general practice complaints up to and including intensive care treatment and emergency medicine,’ she said.
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Sir David, who leaves three sons, Miles, 29, Wilfred, 28, and George, 26, was travelling alone, although his wife Lady Carina, 61, second daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, had accompanied him on previous cruises.
A spokesman last night refused to detail repatriation plans, but the Queen Elizabeth is continuing to sail towards Lisbon, where it is due to dock tomorrow morning.
It is likely that Sir David’s body will then be flown home.
Sir David with Sir Michael Parkinson in 2008. They worked together many times during their extensive television careers
Sir Michael described a 'non-judgmental interviewer' with a strong sense of morality.
He said: 'He was guided in his life by deep principles - I never heard him say a nasty word about anybody and I never heard him swear.
'When you think of all the stuff he was responsible for, never mind the Nixon interview and the two television companies he helped set up too, it's remarkable.
'He was just an extraordinary guy, non-judgmental in that he didn't bring any prejudices to his work.
'But it's not right to say he was a "soft" interviewer - he had a totally persuasive interview style which led to the unmasking of a scoundrel.'
Sir David , who probably interviewed more world figures from royalty, politics, the Church, show-business and virtually everywhere else, than any other living broadcaster, was the most illustrious TV inquisitor of his generation.
He not only won virtually all the major television awards available, but his professional activities were so diverse that he was once described as 'a one-man conglomerate'.
Friends and colleagues from his 40-year career spoke of their shock at the broadcasters death.
Stephen Fry wrote: ‘Oh heavens, David Frost dead? No!! I only spoke to him on Friday and he sounded so well. Excited about a house move, full of plans ... how sad.’
His interview with the doomed American President 'Tricky Dicky' Richard Nixon in 1977 was a TV classic.
TV personality Esther Rantzen said: ‘I think fellow interviewers have always been awestruck by David Frost's capacity to elicit memorable, sometimes historically significant quotes from all the movers and shakers or our time - presidents, prime ministers, A*list celebrities .
‘But for all of us who had the pleasure of knowing him socially, it is his kindness, generosity, loyalty and humour that we will miss so much.’
TV presenter Loyd Grossman described the 'irreplaceable' journalist as a ‘master of current events’, adding: ‘I can't think of any other broadcaster that can step into those very, very big shoes.’
John Cleese, whose career was arguably launched on Sir David's programme The Frost Report, said: 'I was very, very sad to hear of David's death. I had known him for 52 years and I was extraordinarily fond of him.
'He was always fun and kind and interesting and I never heard him make a mean comment about anyone.
'I owe a great deal of my professional career to David and I am very grateful for what he did for me. Life is going to feel rather diminished by the loss of his welcoming, cheery and optimistic voice.'
Andrew Lloyd Webber tweeted: 'Farewell David, dearest friend. ALW.'
Actor Michael Sheen, who played Sir David in Frost/Nixon told BBC News that the broadcaster 'was a huge part of life when I was growing up'.
He added: 'Someone who when I did get to know him a little bit, and I even got to interview him at one point - he was as good an interviewee as he was an interviewer, he just radiated not only warmth as a person but enthusiasm for what he did.
Sir David became famous after interviewing President Nixon in 1977. The politician was forced to admit that he had taken part in the infamous Watergate scandal
Former President Richard Nixon exhibited a range of expressions during his interview with David Frost
'He clearly loved doing what he did.'
Politicians described a 'fearsome interviewer' who knew how to had a unique ability to disarm his opponent.
Prime Minister David Cameron was quick to send his condolences, praising Sir David for being an 'extraordinary man with charm, wit, talent, intelligence and warmth in equal measure.'
He addeed: 'My heart goes out to David Frost's family. He could be - and certainly was with me - both a friend and a fearsome interviewer.'
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: ‘Being interviewed by him was always a pleasure but also you knew that there would be multiple stories the next day arising from it.’
Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell hailed Sir David as a 'peerless' broadcaster.
'To be interviewed by David Frost was never a chore, even when trying to defend the indefensible,' he said.
'But his scrupulous and disarming politeness hid a mind like a vice. David Frost could do you over without you realising it until it was too late.'
A statement from his family said: 'His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time.
'A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course.'
His interview with the doomed American President 'Tricky Dicky' Richard Nixon in 1977 was a TV classic.
He quizzed the President on the Watergate Scandal that had emerged in the early 1970s .
Sir David quizzed the President on the Watergate Scandal that had emerged in the early 1970s
Sir David Frost has probably interviewed more world figures from royalty, politics, the Church, and show-business than anyone else
He is said to have been a 'fearsome' interviewer'. Pictured here with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
The interviewer and his subject sparred through the first part of the interview, but Sir David later said he realized he didn't have what he wanted as it wound down.
Nixon had acknowledged mistakes, but Sir David pressed him on whether that was enough. Americans, he said, wanted to hear him own up to wrongdoing and acknowledge abuse of power - and 'unless you say it, you're going to be haunted for the rest of your life.'
'That was totally off-the-cuff,' Sir David later said. 'That was totally ad-lib. In fact, I threw my clipboard down just to indicate that it was not prepared in any way ... I just knew at that moment that Richard Nixon was more vulnerable than he'd ever be in his life. And I knew I had to get it right.'
An under pressure Nixon mistakenly said: 'When the President does it, that means it's not illegal.'
Admitting he was part of the cover up, Nixon eventually conceded that he had let the American public down.
His dramatic interview with Richard Nixon was at the time the most widely watched news interview in the history of TV. It was shown in almost every televised nation in the world, and garnered the largest audience ever achieved for such an interview in the United States.
Sir David Frost after receiving his knighthood with his wife and three sons in 1993
Television Presenter and Newscaster Sir David Frost with wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard at Ascot in 2011
Sir David Frost at his annual Summer Garden Party with his wife Lady Carina Frost with their sons Miles, Wilfred & George
Sir David Frost on his wedding in 1983 say to second wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard
It was later dramatised into a sell-out West End play, and more recently a Hollywood movie.
Sir David, whose career at that stage appeared to be on the decline, poured some of his own wealth into this interview. It was a gamble, but it totally restored his fortunes - and there was no looking back after that.
The 2008 historical drama Frost/Nixon, starring Michael Sheen, chronicled the run up to the Nixon interviews.
The film was a critical hit and was nominated for five Golden Globes and five Academy Awards.
Sir David was regularly scoffed at by fellow broadcasters for his allegedly non-aggressive style of questioning.
A young Sir David Frost and Lance Percival on the set of the television show That Was The Week That Was
The Beatles' George Harrison and John Lennon answer questions from David Frost on the television programme 'The Frost Report'. They are discussing to topic of transcendental meditation and LSD
Tony Blair, Prime Minister appearing with Sir David Frost on the BBC current affairs television programme: 'Breakfast with Frost' in 2005
Sir David's list of interviewees reads like a roll call of the world's most famous and powerful people. They include virtually every US president and British prime minister during his working life. Pictured interviewing Sir Edward Heath
But he invariably had the last laugh because he almost always extracted more intriguing information and revealing reactions from his subjects than other far more acerbic broadcasters who boasted about their hard-hitting treatment of their 'victims'.
Colleague Barney Jones, who edited his Breakfast with Frost programme, told the BBC: 'David loved broadcasting, did it brilliantly for more than 50 years and was eagerly looking forward to a host of projects - including interviewing the prime minister next week - before his sudden and tragic death. We will all miss him enormously.'
Peter Fincham, director of television at ITV, said: 'David Frost was one of the giants of television. He co-founded London Weekend Television and was a hugely influential figure in the development of ITV.
Sir David interviewing Muhammed Ali in 1974. He had already gained a reputation as an effective interviewer
Sir David interviewing Bobby Kennedy shortly before he died in 1968. He was campaigning for the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency
Sir David, TV presenter and journalist, interviews Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister, at Caenarfon Castle in 1977
'He was a major presence on screen for five decades, able to switch effortlessly from light entertainment to interviewing world leaders. And he was the most courteous and generous man you could hope to meet, always making it seem that it was his great good fortune to know you, rather than vice versa.
'He was the epitome of old school charm.'
Sir David first came to notice nationally with the Saturday night TV satirical programme That Was The Week That Was, which he hosted and co-created in the early 1960s. By today's standards of merciless lampooning, it would appear tame.
Sir David Frost with an early Bafta and with his Fellowship Award at the Pioneer British Academy Television Awards in 2005
It shocked authority, and was a programme not to be missed by those who were its victims as much as by those who enjoyed seeing the great and the good so savagely ridiculed.
But it 'made' Sir David who was then seen as a coruscating rebel, although quite a likeable one, and who was to develop, ironically, as an Establishment figure in his own right.
David Paradine Frost was born on April 7, 1939, the son of a Methodist preacher, at Tenterden, Kent. He was educated at Gillingham Grammar School, Wellingborough Grammar School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
At Cambridge he joined Footlights, the renowned revue and cabaret society. He then started to do some TV for the regional station in Norwich, particularly a programme called Town and Gown which was about Cambridge.
The veteran broadcaster was due to give a speech on the Queen Elizabeth on Saturday
For the Christmas edition of that programme in December 1959, the programme-makers decided they wanted a spoof of TV and they approached Footlights and asked Sir David and the comedian Peter Cook to write it.
Later Sir David said: 'We went to the station to do it, and I walked into this rather odd environment of a television studio and I thought "This is home. This is for me". It was an instant feeling, and from that moment on, for me the decision was made. It was a very memorable day.'
Another of his programmes, The Frost Report, effectively launched John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett on their subsequent glittering careers.
Sir David's list of interviewees reads like a roll call of the world's most famous and powerful people. They include virtually every US president and British prime minister during his working life.
David Frost and Michael Parkinson with Robert Kee, Angela Rippon, and Anna Ford at the launch of TV-am in 1983
Frost celebrating with the cast of the 'Frost Over England' television programme
Others included Prince Charles, the Duke and Duchess of York, the Princess Royal, Robert F Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Pierre Trudeau, Mikhail Gorbachev, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, King Hussein, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, and countless more.
He was the only person to have interviewed all six British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2007and the seven US presidents in office between 1969 and 2008.
Among his awards were two Emmy Awards (for The David Frost Show), the Royal Television Society Silver Medal and the Richard Dimbleby Award in the United Kingdom and internationally, the Golden Rose of Montreux.
The television presenter was the face of 'Through The Keyhole' for two decades
He was the only person to have interviewed all six British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2007and the seven US presidents in office between 1969 and 2008. But he still had a sense of fun
He presented the show Frost Over the World on Al-Jazeera English TV for six years until 2012
Over the years, Sir David wrote 17 books, produced several films and started two television networks, London Weekend Television and TV-am.
In 1983, he married Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, second daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. There were three sons.
He was awarded an OBE in 1970 and received his knighthood in 1993.
‘When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal’: How an unknown British journalist brought down Richard Nixon
Sir David did not reach the international stage until 1977 when he secured a coveted series of television interviews with disgraced former President, Richard Nixon.
The dramatic face-to-face was make-or-break both for him and for the ex-president.
The 38-year-old Sir David took a massive risk in interviewing such an experienced politician and his New York based chat show had been cancelled.
Sir David making final arrangements for the taping of four 90 minute interview programs with Richard Nixon in 1977
But Nixon had spent two years out of the public eye and was trying to salvage his reputation after resigning from the White House in disgrace following the Watergate scandal three years earlier.
Sir David struggled to encourage television networks to buy the interviews, because they viewed them as ‘chequebook journalism’. Nixon was being paid for his time.
Sir David was forced to fund the interviews himself, taking a huge risk on an unpredictable interview.
He and his subject sparred through the first part of the interview, but Sir David later said he realized he didn't have what he wanted as it wound down.
Nixon had acknowledged mistakes, but Sir David pressed him on whether that was enough.
Americans, he said, wanted to hear him own up to wrongdoing and acknowledge abuse of power – and ‘unless you say it, you're going to be haunted for the rest of your life.’
The 2008 movie Frost/Nixon (pictured) chronicled the events leading up to Sir David's famous Nixon interviews
‘That was totally off-the-cuff,’ Sir David later said. ‘That was totally ad-lib. In fact, I threw my clipboard down just to indicate that it was not prepared in any way.
‘I just knew at that moment that Richard Nixon was more vulnerable than he'd ever be in his life. And I knew I had to get it right.’
The once powerful Nixon now looked unprepared and weak in front of the English journalist.
And the moment came when Nixon uttered the now infamous words: ‘When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal.’
After more pressing, Nixon conceded. ‘I let the American people down and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life,’ he said.
The dramatic face-off went on to spawn a hit play. And in 2008, a new generation was introduced to Frost's work with the Oscar-nominated movie Frost/Nixon, starring Michael Sheen as Sir David and Frank Langella as Nixon.
The leading ladies that impacted on Sir David's life
Sir David was almost as famous for his love of women as he was for his hard hitting interviews.
The television presenter was forever in the gossip column and spent the sixties and seventies with a string of beautiful women, especially actresses.
Sir David could charm anyone he talked to, a skill that proved useful in both his professional and personal lives.
Sir David briefly married Peter Sellers' widow Lynne Frederick in 1981. He had a weakness for beautiful women
He was seen with actresses such as Jenny Logan, Alexandra Bastedo and Janette Scott.
The newscaster was even engaged to American actress and singer Diahnne Carroll, who says that she did not marry him as he actually seemed ready to have a family.
The lothario added to his list of women with an on/off affair with Carol Lynley over an 18-year period.
Sir David Frost with girlfriend actress Janette Scott (left) and Jenny Logan (right)
Sir David Frost with another two actresses, Alexandra Bastedo in 1974 (left) and Diahann Carroll (right) in 1971
In 1981 he married Peter Sellers' widow Lynne Fredrick, but they divorced the following year.
One girlfriend, Caroline Cushing, was a burgeoning young journalist who was with him when he interviewed Nixon.
Sir David whisked Caroline to watch Muhammad Ali fight in Zaire for their first date.
Sir David with Caroline Cushing. She went to LA with him when he interviewed former President Richard Nixon
He was hosting the iconic boxing match, Rumble in the Jungle, where Ali fought with George Foreman.
They broke up soon after the Nixon interviews, but Caroline later became a successful journalist in her own right and was west coast editor for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Talk Magazine.
But, he found the love of his life in second wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard.
The daughter of the 17th Duke of Norfolk, they married in 1983 and had three sons: Miles,Wilfred & George and were together until he died.
With a 30 year marriage, she supported him throughout many of his achievements.
Sir David found the love of his life in his wife of 20 years Lady Carina
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