Tomorrow Show's Tom Snyder Dead at 71

Mon., Jul. 30, 2007 10:55 AM PDT by Sarah Hall

Tom Snyder, a former late-night staple and veteran newsman, died Sunday at his home in San Francisco from complications of leukemia. He was 71.

Snyder got his start as a radio reporter in Milwaukee in the 1960s and jumped to television news in the '70s. In 1972, he was hired as host of NBC's Tomorrow Show, which aired after the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Between 1973 and 1982, Snyder conducted a raft of memorable interviews with Tomorrow guests including Charles Manson, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols and KISS.

U2 made its first American appearance on Tomorrow in 1981, while John Lennon gave Snyder his last televised interview in 1975.

Known for his casual, no holds barred interview style and his frequent hearty laugh, Snyder smoked cigarettes unabashedly throughout his interviews, generating a hazy cloud that encircled him and his subjects. His catch phrase for the show was: "Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."

Snyder's signature mannerisms on the Tomorrow Show inspired a Saturday Night Live parody, with Dan Akroyd impersonating the gray-haired, bushy-browed host and thereby adding to his fame. He was also the inspiration for the Playboy cartoon "Tom Morrow," which appeared in the magazine in the late '70s.

After the Tomorrow Show was canceled in 1982 to make room for an up-and-coming David Letterman, Snyder returned to news, working as a correspondent for ABC's Eyewitness News.

From there, he launched an eponymous three-hour talk radio show on ABC Radio, featuring celebrity interviews, news reports and fan call-ins.

After the show went off the air in 1992, Snyder made the jump back to late-night television in 1995 as host of CBS' Late Late Show, following Letterman's Late Show. He was replaced by Craig Kilborn in 1998.In April 2005, Snyder announced on his Website that he had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but remained optimistic about his future.

"When I was a kid leukemia was a death sentence," he wrote at the time. "Now, my doctors say it's treatable!"

Sadly, the disease ultimately proved to be too much for the treatments.

Snyder was remembered fondly by the many colleagues with whom he toiled over the years.

"Tom was a true broadcaster, a rare thing," Late Late Show executive producer Peter Lassally said in a statement. "When he was on the air, he made the camera disappear. It was just you and him, in a room together, having a talk."

NBC President Jeff Zucker had similarly kind words to offer about the late TV personality.

"Our longtime friend and colleague Tom Snyder was a news anchor, talk-show host, innovator, star--but the description that would mean the most to him was that he was a great broadcaster," Zucker said in a statement. "We mourn his passing and extend our condolences to his family and friends."

Snyder is survived by his daughter, Anne Mari Snyder, and two grandchildren.