After years of focusing the camera on Puget Sound area icons, 82-year old television producer Jean Walkinshaw has had the camera turned on her.  And a new Remarkable People, focused on her remarkable life begins airing Sunday, November 2!

An icon herself, Walkinshaw finally relented to being the subject of the television series Remarkable People.

The profile of the longtime local, Emmy Award-winning producer, her life and professional career will air on three Seattle stations in early November:

-SCCtv (Ch 28/Comcast, Ch 19/Millennium) on Sunday, November 2 at 10:00p.m.  The show will air several more times, into December.

The The Seattle Channel (Ch 21) and KCTS (Channel 9) will also air the program.

View an excerpt of the show.

This just in... Jean was a guest speaker at North Seattle Community College November 13.  NSCC President Dr. Ron LaFayette suprised Jean after her speech by giving her serveral of the awards she has recently won for the show Remarkable People.  Hear Jean's speech and see her receive her awards.

Now, more about the show... The producer of Jean's profile is Jeff Gentes, who worked with Jean at KCTS for over twenty years.  He says "Jean has produced so many amazing shows on remarkable people; I always told her we should be producing one on you!"  After much persuasive discussion, Gentes has ensured that day has finally arrived.

This episode of Remarkable People is sponsored by SCCtv, the Floyd & Delores Jones Foundation and the Protocol Foundation.

Over Four Decades in Television

For over 40 years across the airwaves of KING, KCTS, PBS and elsewhere, Jean Walkinshaw has been telling human stories, mostly rooted right here in the Northwest.  Her subjects reflect the landscapes that inspire them to write, paint, live and work passionately - ranging from mountain climber Jim Wickwire to author Ivan Doig, painter/sculptor George Tsutakawa to activist Floyd Schmoe.  Much of her work has an environmental theme stemming from Jean's own love of the Northwest.

Walkinshaw's foray into television came in 1963 when Stimson Bullitt-then KING-TV General Manager-asked Jean if she would be interested in hosting a talk show.  Jean was producer of KING TV's Face to Face in the late ‘60s when the Columbia Univ. Survey of Broadcast Journalism stated the show was "the only local attempt at consistent reporting on minority people" in the nation.

Beyond Local Borders

Walkinshaw has traveled to Russia, Japan and Africa, producing specials for broadcast locally on KCTS Television and nationally on PBS.  In 1986 Jean and her crew became the first non-news American documentary group allowed into Russia to observe everyday life for "Young Storytellers in Russia" which documented local children on their cultural exchange mission there.  "In the Spirit of Cooperation" followed an African-American Peace Corps volunteer from New York City into a back country village in Ghana. In "Kitaro," Jean followed a Japanese new-age compose/performer on tour with American rock musicians.  In each of these extraordinary shows Jean brings focus to cultural clashes that result in profound mutual respect.

To date, Jean has produced and edited over forty documentaries. She is currently working on fundraising for her latest project, a special on the San Juan Islands.  She has been honored with over 30 major awards, including eight regional Emmys; awards from the Chicago, American and New York Film Festivals; Best of the West; National Press Women and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.