Better Late Than...

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Put On Your Tightest Black Tee: Today Is Anderson Cooper’s Birthday


That’s right, the Silver Fox of CNN, and son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, turns 43 today.

Cooper didn’t always have what it takes to wear the tee; once he was unable to get even an entry-level job answering phones at ABC. Yes, it’s fair to say, Anderson Cooper has come a long way, and you got to respect his hard work.

Some tidbits you may not know about the “Silver Fox”

» he spent two summers as an intern at the CIA
» has lived in Vietnam for a year
» is a graduate of Yale University
» He hosted ABC’s reality show The Mole (sorry, Anderson, we didn’t forget)
» Modeled, from 10-13 years old, for Ford Models
» Went to Myanmar with a forged press pass (he forged it himself) and was able to sell home-made news segments to Channel One.

And, after Katrina, Broadcasting & Cable magazine had this to say about him:

In its aftermath, Hurricane Katrina served to usher in a new breed of emo-journalism, skyrocketing CNN’s Anderson Cooper to superstardom as CNN’s golden boy and a darling of the media circles because of his impassioned coverage of the storm.

But before his head gets too inflated, here’s a baby pic of him (rumored to be one Gloria Vanderbilt, after looking at it, didn’t want released. She changed her mind later) taken by Diane Arbus for Harper’s Bazaar:


Wow, a little creepy. Just kidding, Anderson. Happy Birthday to a damn fine journalist.

photo (top) via cnnobservations.com
background on Anderson Cooper via wikipedia