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Ted Turner

American media mogul

Ted Turner

Born:November 19, 1938

Died:May 6, 2026

Age at death:87

Manner of death:Natural Causes

Cause of death:Dementia With Lewy Bodies

Zodiac Sign:Scorpio

Children:5

Born in:Cincinnati, United States

Languages:English

PhilanthropistBaseball ManagerSports ExecutiveSailorEnvironmentalistMedia ProprietorEntrepreneurTelevision Producer

Signature

Ted Turner Signature

Related People

Spouse: Jane Fonda(1991–2001 – divorce)
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Links

WikipediaOfficial WebsiteIMDbFacebook

Famous For

Movies & TV

Gods and GeneralsGettysburgThe Slugger's Wife

Books

Call Me Ted

Awards

Sports Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science (2006)Bower Award for Business Leadership (2006)Delta Prize for Global Understanding (2006)Emperor Has No Clothes Award (2001)

Biography

Robert Edward Turner III (November 19, 1938 – May 6, 2026) was an American businessman, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded CNN, the first 24-hour cable news channel, and WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. Turner also founded the television networks TNT, TBS, The Cartoon Network, Inc., and Turner Classic Movies, and acquired professional wrestling company Jim Crockett Promotions, which became the basis of the promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Turner began his media empire in March 1963 when he took over his father's billboard business—Turner Outdoor Advertising, then worth $1 million—after his father's suicide at the age of 53. His purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the Turner Broadcasting System. In 1980, he founded CNN, one of the most prominent news networks in the world. Turner owned the Atlanta Braves baseball team, which won the 1995 World Series. He turned the team into a nationally popular franchise, and he launched the charitable Goodwill Games. Turner was also a passionate proponent of professional wrestling as a television product, having aired wrestling on TBS dating back to 1971, and credited wrestling with helping TBS gain a national footprint with the coming of cable television. In 1988, Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions, which he then rebranded as WCW, a promotion that would supersede the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in popularity during the mid-1990s, an era now called the Monday Night War. As a philanthropist, he gave $1 billion to create the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden U.S. support for the United Nations; Turner served as co-chairman of its board of directors. In 2001, he co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) with U.S. senator Sam Nunn (D‑GA), a non-partisan organization dedicated to reducing global reliance on and preventing the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. In 2020, Forbes awarded Turner a perfect philanthropy score of 5, the highest possible rating, placing him among an exclusive group of just ten Forbes 400 members, alongside Warren Buffett, George Soros, Eli Broad, and others who have each given away at least 20% of their fortune. Turner was also known for his controversial statements, which earned him the nicknames "The Mouth of the South" and "Captain Outrageous". He was the largest private landowner in the United States until John C. Malone surpassed him in 2011. He used much of his land for ranches to re-popularize bison meat for his Ted's Montana Grill chain, having amassed the largest privately owned bison herd in the world. Turner devoted much of his assets to environmental causes and also created the environmental-themed animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

This biography uses content from the Wikipedia article “Ted Turner”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Quotes

“Our future is in our hands. We do have global communications, and we know what's going on all over the world, and we know what's right, and we know what's wrong. The question is, are we going to do something about it?”

— As quoted in Television Academy Foundation interview (12 June 1999 & 6 December 1999)

“If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect.”

— As quoted in "At Long Last, He's Citizen Ted", Forbes (30 January 2003)

Quotes sourced from the Wikiquote article "Ted Turner", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Photos

Ted Turner

Title: Ted Turner Creator(s): Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer Date Created/Published: April 1985. Medium: 1 photograph : color transparency ; 35mm (slide format) Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-gtfy-04229 (digital file from original) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. For information see "Bernard Gotfryd," (https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/res.592.gotf) Access Advisory: Please use digital image: original slide is kept in cold storage for preservation. Call Number: LC-GB05- 4229 [P&P] Repository: Library of Congress Prints and īPhotographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Notes: Title from slide mount or other caption information provided by the photographer. Photo agency: Newsweek; NW/FILE. Date on slide mount: 4/85. Gift; Bernard Gotfryd; 2004; (DLC/PP-2004:032). Subjects: Media proprietors Format: Slides--Color--1980-1990. Part of: Bernard Gotfryd photograph collection (Library of Congress) Bookmark This Record: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2020733770/

Ted Turner

Braves HOF wall at SunTrust Park

Ted Turner

Title: Ted Turner Creator(s): Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer Date Created/Published: April 1985. Medium: 1 photograph : color transparency ; 35mm (slide format) Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-gtfy-04229 (digital file from original) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. For information see "Bernard Gotfryd," (https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/res.592.gotf) Access Advisory: Please use digital image: original slide is kept in cold storage for preservation. Call Number: LC-GB05- 4229 [P&P] Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Notes: Title from slide mount or other caption information provided by the photographer. Photo agency: Newsweek; NW/FILE. Date on slide mount: 4/85. Gift; Bernard Gotfryd; 2004; (DLC/PP-2004:032). Subjects: Media proprietors Format: Slides--Color--1980-1990. Part of: Bernard Gotfryd photograph collection (Library of Congress) Bookmark This Record: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2020733770/

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award.

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award. Photo by Chris Caselli.

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award. Photo by Chris Caselli.

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award. Photo by Chris Caselli.

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award. Photo by Chris Caselli.

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award. Photo by Chris Caselli.

Ted Turner

The LBJ Foundation honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner with the 2015 Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library on May 21, 2015. The program was introduced by Larry Temple and Tom Johnson, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and LBJ's daughters, Lynda Robb and Luci Johnson, presented the award. Photo by Chris Caselli.

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