With his broken nose and blazing blue eyes, native Detroiter Bill Bonds made a name for himself with his coverage of the 1967 Detroit riots on WXYZ-TV’s Action News. He eventually became a fixture on the program, serving as its top evening anchor from 1971 until 1995. According to his website, he’s won more Emmy Awards than any other anchor in the country. A newscaster through and through, he even played one in 1971’s Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
On-Air Outbursts
While obviously a respected newscaster, Bonds is also known for his occasional on-air outbursts. Though sometimes disturbing, his humanness brought some life to what was otherwise a dry program. Sometimes he’d go off in anger, such as in this segment on YouTube entitled Bill Bonds Freaks Out. Sometimes he’d go off in sorrow, such as when he took a moment after a scripted segment on the Oakland County Child Killer to address the killer directly. Teary eyed, he made a plea to the killer to stop his rampage.
Still Around
These days Bonds is probably best recognized in Gardner White TV spots and Eminem's 2005 music video, Mockingbird.
