The Ubiquitous Mr. Kurtis
You never know where Bill Kurtis is going to pop up. Currently he’s everywhere on television doing AT&T ads, cold case stories, news items, and an occasional interview.
For the former television news anchor and documentary film maker, this is nothing new. While he had a full-time news anchor job in the 1970’s and enough side jobs to keep three people busy he always seemed to look for more. Even my brother remembers shooting an industrial film with him in the early ’80s.
A few years ago Ravinia Festival asked me to photograph a family Halloween event on their Highland Park, IL campus. They wanted photos of a couple of guest readers telling and reading scary stories to the children assembled in the darkened Martin Hall.
The dim lights revealed little of the dark figure seated on the stage among skeletons, flying bats and spider webs. But as he began to read excerpts from Poe’s The Telltale Heart his voice betrayed him.
“… presently I heard a slight groan, and I know it was the groan of mortal terror.”
I almost expected to hear him say at the end, “…and I’m Bill Kurtis.”
Bill Kurtis
Bill Kurtis
Bill Kurtis at Ravinia