Obit: Shana Alexander, 79; Liberal Debater on '60 Minutes,'

[quaoar]

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-me-alexander24jun24.story

Shana Alexander, 79; Liberal Debater on '60 Minutes,' Author and Columnist

By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer

Shana Alexander, who broke ground as the first woman staff writer and columnist at Life magazine and gained pop-culture status on television in the 1970s as the liberal voice on the "Point/Counterpoint" segment on CBS' "60 Minutes," died Thursday. She was 79.

Alexander died of cancer in an assisted-living facility in Hermosa Beach, said her sister, Laurel Bentley of Manhattan Beach.

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"She had a good sense of humor, she had a … literate tongue, she was funny and she sometimes took understandable offense at some of the things that Kilpatrick used to say on 'Point/Counterpoint,' " said "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace on Thursday.

[displacedtexan]

1. She inspired, "Jane, you ignorant slut!"

That was when SNL was funny!

[OneBlueSky]

4. first thing to cross my mind when I saw her name . . .

sad that a pretty good journalist will likely be most remembered as a punchline . . .

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. She was terrific

A real groundbreaker, a woman in a man's field when that wasn't the norm.

She was also the inspiration for the famous Dan Ackroyd line on "SNL" to Jane Curtin when they were doing a spoof of "Point/Counterpoint":

"Jane, you ignorant slut."

Shana did good.

[Roland99]

3. Her name always reminds me of this quote from "Airplane"

"Shana, they bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say, 'Let 'em crash!'"