Biografia
Dixie Whatley's career has ranged from nationally known film critic and television host to her career as a stone sculptor. Her work is in collections internationally, including four pieces owned by rock legend Eric Clapton.
One of the first hosts on Entertainment Tonight, Whatley worked for the international show as an anchor,reporter and New York City correspondent, from 1981 to 1986. Whatley also co-hosted, with Rex Reed, the nationally syndicated "At the Movies" while she continued her 14-year stint as film reviewer and arts and entertainment reporter for the ABC television station in Boston, WCVB. She has guest hosted on PBS, appears on TV as a film critic and media expert, and does weekly film and DVD reviews for radio, including WMJX in Boston.
Whatley guest hosted Good Morning Australia, that country's version of Good Morning America. She also hosted the internationally-syndicated celebrity talk show, "The Star's Table".
A lifelong artist, she's applied her artistic skills to many areas, including professional illustration and photography, designing graphics for the Oscar winning documentary "Scared Straight" and the loud, messy and gratifying work of stone sculpture, along with the much calmer venue of photography. Her work can be seen on her website at dixiestudio.com, in the L'Attitude Gallery in Boston and Judith Liegeois Gallery in Naples.
Whatley's first TV job was at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, where she worked as news-writer, producer, reporter and fill in anchor for the station's 10 p.m weeknight newscast. she then moved to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles as a weekend anchor and reporter. For two of those years, she worked seven days a week, anchoring the station's weekend newscast and working on Entertainment Tonight on weekdays.
Whatley spent six years as a freelance writer and illustrator for the Los Angeles Times while also working in television. She has written for various magazines and produced a novel, "Tavia's Eyes".
Whatley was a reporter/anchor on four Emmy Award-winning news programs and received the Los Angeles Press Club Award for best television news-writing for riot coverage. She has also had such varied experiences as receiving a 9G pin from the Thunderbirds F16 aerial team for flying at that speed, and creating the saying on one of the new 'sweetheart hearts' for the year 2000 for the NECCO candy company.
Her charitable work includes hosting the New York City Variety Club Telethon, the New York Arthritis Telethon, and numerous local events for many different charities.
She holds a Masters in Journalism from the University of Southern California, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. from U.S.C. She also studied international relations and journalism in Geneva, Switzerland, and art at the DeCordova Museum in Massachusetts.
Susanne Whatley, Dixie's sister, is a longtime radio news anchor in Los Angeles, currently at KFWB. Her mother was an acclaimed radio drama/comedy writer for CBS Network.
Dixie lives outside Boston with her husband and two cats. They also have a home in Naples, Florida.
