Almost golden

Jessica Savitch was a newscaster in the '70s - not an easy thing for women to be in those days (the Veronica Corningstone character in the Will Ferrell movie Anchorman: The Ron Burgundy Story was based on her and her struggles). She was very popular with the viewers, but very demanding behind the scenes.



She was equally demanding of herself, leading to stress and drugs. And on October 3, 1983, 24 years ago today, she had an absolute meltdown on camera. (Note the globe spinning the wrong way at the beginning.)



Three weeks later, Savitch was dead - she was in the back seat of a car that went off the road and into a canal, where she drowned. She was 36 years old.