1943 in television

Last updated July 27, 2025

The year 1943 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1943.

Events

May 8 – Opening of Paris Télévision – Fernsehsender Paris, a channel operated by German occupation authorities (Kurt Hinzmann, former director of Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow") after an agreement between Telefunken and Compagnie des Compteurs, with a (German) 441-line standard. Local French programmes and Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow" programmes are interlaced.
June – Work is begun for the U.S. Army Air Forces to develop a remotely controlled glide bomb guided by a radio receiver and a television transmitter using a 625-line iconoscope tube. The first are completed in July and tested in August.
December 23 – The first complete opera, Hansel and Gretel , is telecast, by WRGB in Schenectady.
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is formed. Its television network debuts in 1948.
Germany experiments with a flying bomb guided by a television camera, created by Fernseh, using both the Superikonoscope and the Farnsworth image dissector.

Debuts

The Voice of Firestone Televues (1943–1947; renamed The Voice of Firestone, broadcast from 1949 to 1963).
April 18 - Your Victory Garden debuts on W2XVW (Dumont) (1943)^[1]

Television shows

Series	Debut	Ended	Network
Your Victory Garden	April 18, 1943	May 9, 1943	Dumont
The Voice of Firestone Televues	1943	1947	NBC

Births

January 1
- Don Novello, actor ( Saturday Night Live )
- Stanley Kamel, actor (d. 2008)
January 13 – Richard Moll, actor ( Night Court , Batman: The Animated Series , Mighty Max ) (d. 2023)
January 14 - Holland Taylor, actress ( The Practice , Two and a Half Men )
January 18 - Paul Angelis, actor (d. 2009)
January 23 – Gil Gerard, actor ( Buck Rogers in the 25th Century )
January 24 – Sharon Tate, actress, model (d. 1969)
January 26 - Kathryn Leigh Scott, actress ( Dark Shadows )
January 28 – John Beck, actor ( Flamingo Road )
January 31 - Peter McRobbie, actor ( Law & Order , Daredevil )
February 1 - Tina Sloan, actress ( Guiding Light )
February 3 - Blythe Danner, actress ( Huff )
February 5 - Michael Mann, producer
February 8 - Creed Bratton, actor ( The Office )
February 17 – Claire Malis, actress (d. 2012)
February 25 - George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, The Beatles (d. 2001)
February 27 – Mary Frann, actress ( Newhart ) (d. 1998)
March 8
- Susan Clark, Canadian actress ( Webster )
- Lynn Redgrave, actress (d. 2010)
March 9 - Charles Gibson, American broadcast television anchor
March 16 – Susan Bay, actress
March 18 – Kevin Dobson, actor ( Kojak ) (d. 2020)
March 23 - Alan Kalter, announcer (d. 2021)
March 25 - Paul Michael Glaser, actor and director ( Starsky & Hutch )
March 28 - Conchata Ferrell, actress ( Two and a Half Men ) (d. 2020)
March 29 – Eric Idle, actor and comedian ( Monty Python's Flying Circus )
March 31 - Christopher Walken, actor
April 2 - Antonio Sabàto Sr., actor (d. 2021)
April 5 - Max Gail, actor ( Barney Miller )
April 11 - Harley Race, professional wrestler (d. 2019)
April 23 - Hervé Villechaize, actor (d. 1993)
April 24 - Richard Sterban, singer
April 25 - Tony Christie, singer
April 26 - Gary Wright, singer (d. 2023)
April 29 - Duane Allen, singer
April 30 - Bobby Vee, singer (d. 2016)
May 10 - David Clennon, actor ( thirtysomething )
May 12 - Linda Dano, actress ( One Life to Live , Another World )
May 18 – Jimmy Snuka, pro wrestler (d. 2017)^[2]
May 24 – Gary Burghoff, actor ( M*A*S*H )
May 27
- Bruce Weitz, actor ( Hill Street Blues )
- Diane Pershing, actress ( Batman: The Animated Series , She-Ra: Princess of Power )
May 28 – Rod Holcomb, producer (d. 2024)
May 30 – Charles Collingwood, actor
May 31
- Joe Namath, football player
- Sharon Gless, actress ( Cagney & Lacey )
June 1 - John Langley, creator of Cops (d. 2021)
June 2 - Charles Haid, actor and director ( Hill Street Blues )
June 3 - Camilla Sparv, actress
June 7
- "Superstar" Billy Graham, professional wrestler (d. 2023)^[3]
- Ken Osmond, American actor and police officer ( Leave It to Beaver ) (d. 2020)
- Michael Pennington, English actor and director
June 13 – Malcolm McDowell, English actor ( Mozart in the Jungle , Franklin & Bash , Metalocalypse , Superman: The Animated Series )
June 15 – Lee Shallat Chemel, producer
June 16 – Joan Van Ark, actress ( Knots Landing )
June 17 – Newt Gingrich, politician
June 22 – Brit Hume, journalist
June 24 – Georg Stanford Brown, Cuban-American actor ( The Rookies )
June 26 – John Beasley, actor ( Everwood ) (d. 2023)
July 2 – Lauri Peters, actress
July 3 – Kurtwood Smith, actor ( That '70s Show, Regular Show , The Zeta Project )
July 4 – Geraldo Rivera, television host
July 8 – Ri Chun-hee, North Korean news presenter
July 9 – Suzanne Rogers, actress ( Days of Our Lives )
July 11 – Susan Seaforth Hayes, actress ( Days of Our Lives , The Young and the Restless )
July 12 – Ernie Anastos, news anchor
July 23
- Lucy Lee Flippin, actress ( Little House on the Prairie )
- Bob Hilton, game show host
July 28 – Bill Bradley, basketball player and politician^[4]
July 29 – Roz Kelly, actress ( Happy Days )
August 2 – Max Wright, actor ( ALF ) (d. 2019)
August 6 – Michael Anderson Jr., actor
August 12 - Jim Storm, actor ( Dark Shadows )
August 13 - Lillian Hurst, actress ( Lost )
August 17 - Robert De Niro, actor
August 18 - Martin Mull, actor ( Roseanne , Sabrina the Teenage Witch , Danny Phantom ) (d. 2024)
August 27 - Tuesday Weld, actress ( The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis )
August 28 - David Soul, American-British actor and singer ( Starsky & Hutch ) (d. 2024)
August 30 - Altovise Davis, American actress (d. 2009)
September 9 - Art LaFleur, American actor (d. 2021)
September 21 - Jerry Bruckheimer, American film and television producer
September 25
- Lee Aaker, actor ( The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin ) (d. 2021)
- Josh Taylor, actor ( Days of Our Lives , The Hogan Family )
- Robert Walden, actor ( Lou Grant , Brothers , Happily Divorced )
September 27 - Peter Simon, actor ( Guiding Light )
October 6 - Michael Durrell, actor ( Guiding Light )
October 8
- Chevy Chase, actor and comedian ( Saturday Night Live , Community )
- R. L. Stine, television producer
October 12 - Lin Shaye, actress
October 13 - Mike Barnicle, anchor
October 15
- Noreen Corcoran, actress (d. 2016)
- Penny Marshall, actress and director ( Laverne and Shirley ) (d. 2018)
October 17 – Elaine Taylor, actress
October 27 – Carmen Argenziano, actor ( Stargate SG-1 ) (d. 2019)
October 29 – Don Simpson, film producer (d. 1996)
November 4 – Chuck Scarborough, television journalist
November 6 – Ian Turpie, actor (d. 2012)
November 12 – Wallace Shawn, actor
November 17 – Lauren Hutton, actress
November 20 – Veronica Hamel, actress ( Hill Street Blues )
November 26 – Bruce Paltrow, television and film director (d. 2002)
November 28 – Randy Newman, singer
December 1 – David Salzman, producer
December 11 – John Kerry, politician
December 12 – E. Jean Carroll, author
December 16 – Steven Bochco, writer-producer ( Hill Street Blues ) (d. 2018)
December 23 – Harry Shearer, actor ( Saturday Night Live , The Simpsons )
December 27 – Cokie Roberts, political journalist (d. 2019)
December 28 – Richard Whiteley, presenter (d. 2005)
December 31 – Ben Kingsley, actor

Deaths

January 7 - Nikola Tesla, inventor of the Tesla coil (born 1856)

References

↑ "July and August 1943".
↑ Li, David K.; Rosenbaum, Sophia (2017-01-15). "Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka dead at 73" . Retrieved 2024-08-14.
↑ "Wrestling Entertainment Icon Billy Graham Dies at Age 79". 2023-05-18. Retrieved 2025-07-26.
↑ "Bradley to make official announcement - September 7, 1999". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2024-07-14.

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[1] "July and August 1943".

[2] Li, David K.; Rosenbaum, Sophia (2017-01-15). "Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka dead at 73" . Retrieved 2024-08-14.

[3] "Wrestling Entertainment Icon Billy Graham Dies at Age 79". 2023-05-18. Retrieved 2025-07-26.

[4] "Bradley to make official announcement - September 7, 1999". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2024-07-14.

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