Marian Etoile Watson

Marian Etoile Watson grew up in Pine Bluff Arkansas and was educated at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and A.M.& N. College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where her father, the late Dr. John Brown Watson, was its first President. She was graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music. Watson moved to New York City in 1961 to study music and opera at the famed Juilliard School of Music and studied also at the renowned Scuola di Musica in Milan, Italy.

Watson joined WNEW/Channel 5 in 1968 as associate producer of "Inside Bedford Stuyvesant." Within one year she was co-host as well as associate producer of that innovative program. She has interviewed celebrities from around world and from Hollywood to the Broadway. She has been the host of talk shows, correspondent on news programs, and documentaries, including Fox 5's syndicated "The Future of Black America" with LeVar Burton. Watson has worked as a film and theater critic for Channel 5 News and as an entertainment reporter for the "10 O'clock News" as well as the McCreary Report." She also served as co-executive producer of Billy Dee Williams' PBS series, "Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars," based on the best-selling book by Donald Bogle.

In 1988, Watson was named as the first host for the debut of the station's new morning show, "Good Day New York." She was joined by Bob Fitzsimmons and the signature morning show continues today.

In additional to her work in television, Watson is also an experienced performer in film and on stage. She made her film debut in 1969 in Ossie Davis' "Cotton Comes to Harlem"; appeared on Broadway in "Hello Dolly"; appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson and was an original cast member of the rock-musical "Hair."

Watson has traveled the world for work and for pleasure interviewing the biggest names in entertainment including Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, Tony Bennett, Wynton Marsalis, Russell Simmons, the Harry Potter cast in London, Michael Jackson, and Marlon Brando who in 1970 requested an appearance on Watson's Emmy-Award wining show "Black News." She recently treated viewers to a backstage tour with the Broadway cast of "Chicago" and routinely does behind-the-scenes interviews.

Today Watson continues to report WWOR/My9 delivering unique entertainment and feature stories. Her esteemed career in broadcasting and the performing arts distinguishes her as a household name among New York's cultural circles and around the world.