Background and career
Joan Lunden (born Joan Elise Blunden, September 19, 1950) is an American journalist, author, and television host. Lunden was the co-host of ABC's Good Morning America from 1980 to 1997, and has authored over ten books. She has appeared on the Biography program and Biography Channel. As of 2014, Lunden is a special correspondent for NBC's Today. In 2021, Lunden became host of the public television program Second Opinion.
Joan Elise Blunden was born in Sacramento County, California, the daughter of Gladyce Lorraine (née Somervill) and Dr. Erle Murray Blunden. Her father was the chief of staff at American River Hospital and an amateur pilot with his own airport. She had a brother 8 months older than her named Jeff. In 1964, her father and Dr. Byron E. Hall, a San Francisco physician, died in a plane crash in Malibu Canyon, California. They were returning from an American Cancer Society state board of directors meeting in Los Angeles. Blunden graduated from Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks, California at the age of 16 in 1967. She earned a Liberal Arts degree from California State University, Sacramento and studied abroad on World Campus Afloat (now Semester at Sea). Later she studied Spanish and anthropology at the former Mexico City campus of Universidad de Las Americas. She was a visiting instructor at Montclair State College in New Jersey, where she taught a course in broadcast journalism.
In 1973, she began her broadcasting career working as a trainee at (Channel 3) KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California. Within two years she was the co-anchor of the daily noon television news program. She produced the noon news broadcast and hosted KCRA's television specials.
In 1975, Lunden moved to New York City and she found an apartment with the help of her childhood friend Jed Johnson and his longtime partner Andy Warhol. That year, she joined New York's WABC-TV Eyewitness News, at which time her name was changed to avoid being called "Blunder". A year later, she became co-anchor on the weekend newscasts. Lunden joined GMA in the fall of 1976 as a feature news/consumer reporter, and later became fill-in co-host when former co-host Sandy Hill left to work on ABC's coverage of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Her popularity led to her quick promotion to co-host with David Hartman, the program's original host, in 1980. Later, she would spend the majority of her career hosting with ABC's Charlie Gibson. She reported from 26 countries, covered four presidents, five Olympic Games, and two royal weddings. Her popularity on the GMA program from the 1970s through the 1990s allowed her to interview U.S. Presidents and First Ladies Gerald and Betty Ford, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George and Barbara Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and also Texas Governor George W. Bush and Laura Bush prior to his election as president in 2000. As the co-host of GMA, Lunden traveled the world, covering historic events, such as the 50th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) in 1995; the 50th anniversary of D-Day; the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo and Calgary, respectively; and the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. She covered the administrations and inaugurations of three presidents —Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. She was one of only three American journalists to interview Prince Charles during his 1983 visit to the United States. Lunden was known for her willingness to take risks in her role as host. She climbed and rappelled Alaska's famed Mendenhall Glacier and bungee-jumped off a 143-foot bridge and paraglided off a 2,000-foot mountain during the program's highly rated trip to New Zealand. She navigated the whitewater rapids of a Georgia river for a GMA show in 1994. While reporting on the TWA Flight 800 crash in 1996, Lunden spoke of her friendship with Jed Johnson who was a victim aboard the plane. She shared a photo of Johnson and his partner Alan Wanzenberg, and expressed her condolences. She referred to Wanzenberg as his domestic partner, which drew praise from Alan Klein, a spokesperson for Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation because Wanzenberg had been referred to as Johnson's "business partner" in initial reports. Klein said Lunden's actions were "life affirming" and partners of lesbians and gays are often ignored in news accounts of tragedies. Lunden left GMA after 17 years as co-host with her last day being on September 5, 1997.
Lunden was a host on the A&E cable network program Behind Closed Doors (originally aired on ABC as occasional primetime specials; 1996–2001), an on-location, undercover reporter program. She also frequently guest hosted A&E's Biography, and hosted the Newborn Channel's Parenting Minutes. She has also hosted Taking Care With Joan Lunden on Retirement Living TV. In 2014, Lunden returned to morning television as a special correspondent for NBC's Today. Her most recent television shows include hosting DirectTV's series Hometown Heroes and the Emmy-winning special America's Invisible Children. In 2021, Lunden took over as host of the public television program Second Opinion. Lunden also hosts Health Corner, a Lifetime series sponsored by Walgreens. She is currently the spokesperson for A Place for Mom, a national senior care referral service. She is also a public speaker in breast cancer awareness advocacy. Lunden has guest-starred on episodes of Murphy Brown, Home Improvement and All My Children. She also made cameo appearances in the films What About Bob?, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Conspiracy Theory and Thank You for Smoking.
1973–1975: KCRA-TV 1975–2000: ABC News 1975–1980: WABC reporter 1976–1980: WABC anchor 1976–1980: Good Morning America correspondent and fill-in anchor 1980–1997: Good Morning America co-anchor 1997–2000: ABC News correspondent 2007–2014: Retirement Living TV host/reporter September 30, 2014 – 2021: NBC Today Show special correspondent
