Sally Bedell Smith

Last updated
Sally Bedell Smith
SallyBedellSmith Headshot.jpg
Born
Sarah Rowbotham

(1948-05-27) May 27, 1948 (age 75)
Other namesSally Bedell, Sally Smith
Education B.A. Wheaton College
M.S. Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
OccupationBiographer
Employer Vanity Fair (contributing editor)
Agent Amanda Urban
Notable workElizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch (January 2012)
Board member of Deerfield Academy
The Buckley School
826DC
Columbia Journalism Review
Spouse Stephen G. Smith
Children3
Awards1982 Sigma Delta Chi Award for magazine reporting
Website www.sallybedellsmith.com
Signature
Sally Bedell Smith signature (cropped).jpg
Notes

Sarah Bedell Smith (born May 27, 1948) is an American journalist and biographer. She has been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair since 1996. Previously, she was a cultural news reporter for The New York Times and Time. She has written biographies of political, cultural, and business figures in the United States and members of the British royal family. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Sarah Rowbotham was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Ruth (Kirk) and James Howard Rowbotham, a brigadier general and businessman. [5] [6] [7] She grew up in the nearby town of St. Davids. She graduated from Radnor High School in 1966 and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in November 2008. [8] She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College and Master of Science from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she won the Robert Sherwood Memorial Travel-Study Scholarship and the Women's Press Club of New York Award.

Career

Smith spent her early career as a cultural news reporter for Time , TV Guide , and The New York Times. In 1996, she joined Vanity Fair as contributing editor.

Smith has written biographies of several notable persons, including television executives, socialites, politicians, and the British royal family.

As a result of her 2012 biography of Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch, Smith served as playwright Peter Morgan's consultant on the London and New York productions of The Audience , his award-winning drama about Queen Elizabeth II and her prime ministers, starring Helen Mirren. [9] The book won the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence, and the 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for best book in history and biography.[ citation needed ]

She was awarded the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award in 1982.[ citation needed ]

Bibliography

TitleYearISBNPublisherSubject matterInterviews, presentations, and reviewsComments
Up the Tube: Prime-Time TV and the Silverman Years1981 ISBN   9780670513857 Viking Press Fred Silverman
In All His Glory: The Life of William S. Paley -- The Legendary Tycoon and His Brilliant Circle1990 ISBN   9780671617356 Simon & Schuster William S. Paley Booknotes interview with Smith on In All His Glory, December 9, 1990, C-SPAN
Reflected Glory: The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman1996 ISBN   9780684809502 Simon & Schuster Pamela Churchill Harriman Presentation by Smith on Reflected Glory, December 12, 1996, C-SPAN
Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess 1999 ISBN   9780812930306 Times Books Diana, Princess of Wales
Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House2004 ISBN   9780375504495 Random House John and Jackie Kennedy
For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House2007 ISBN   9781400063246 Random House Bill and Hillary Clinton Presentation by Smith on The Love of Politics, December 12, 2007, C-SPAN
Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch2012 ISBN   9780718158651 Random House Elizabeth II Presentation by Smith on Elizabeth the Queen, January 16, 2012, C-SPAN
Presentation by Smith on Elizabeth the Queen, September 23, 2012, C-SPAN
Interview with Smith on Elizabeth the Queen, September 23, 2012, C-SPAN
Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life2017 ISBN   9781400067909 Random House Charles, Prince of Wales
George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy2023 ISBN   9780525511632 Random House George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

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References

  1. "Sally Bedell Smith". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale. 2007. Gale   H1000113089 . Retrieved 2012-01-17 via Fairfax County Public Library. Gale Biography In Context. (subscription required)
  2. Smith, Sally Bedell (December 9, 1990). "In All His Glory: The Life of William Paley". Booknotes (Interview). Interviewed by Brian Lamb. C-SPAN . Retrieved 2023-03-13. I went to Wheaton College in Massachusetts and then got my masters at Columbia Journalism School.
  3. "Society of the Four Arts". Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  4. "Sally Bedell Smith". Sally Bedell Smith. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  5. "Sarah Bedell Wed To Stephen Smith". The New York Times . May 23, 1982.
  6. "Memorial: James H. Rowbotham '32". Princeton Alumni Weekly . 2016-01-21.
  7. "Weddings: Cynthia Drayton, James Rowbotham". The New York Times . December 8, 1996.
  8. "Hall of Fame / 2008 Hall of Fame Inductions". Wayne, PA: Radnor Township School District . Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  9. "Helen Mirren, the Queen & The Audience | Royal Oak Foundation". 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2016-10-04.