Thomas Caswell Ellis[1] (September 22, 1932 – April 29, 2019)[2] was a Boston-based journalist, well-known throughout New England for his tenure as anchor for three of Boston's network-affiliated stations.
His career included stints as a correspondent for WNBC-TV and as an anchor for WABC-TV — both in New York City, and for KONO-TV Channel 12 (now KSAT-TV) in San Antonio.
[5] Ellis' first job in television came in 1951, when a producer from New York approached him to host a baseball pregame show for children sponsored by the Curtiss Candy Company.
Ellis hosted the Curtis Knot Hole Gang club, a thirty-minute program before the Dallas Eagles and the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League.
WCVB offered Ellis the opportunity to return to Boston, not only with a salary to rival WABC's, but to join the anchoring duo of Chet Curtis and Natalie Jacobson, which had been taking the market.
Ellis' return to Boston meant only better things for a station whose news department and commitment to local programming would soon garner it national attention.
Although Curtis and Jacobson were responsible initially, some credit Ellis' dominance and professionalism for pushing WCVB up to a close second in the evening news ratings, right behind WBZ.
He then began anchoring alongside both Curtis and Jacobson on the 11 p.m. newscasts beginning in 1980—the catalyst for WCVB reaching first place in 1981 (WBZ, for the record, hasn't been #1 since).
That spring, however, he cut what many called an under-the-table deal with Boston's re-launched Channel 7, WNEV-TV (now WHDH), to become lead-anchor for its re-organized news department.
Billboard, radio and TV advertisements attempted to tap into viewers' emotions by depicting Ellis and Young as active community leaders.
Diane Willis, a WNEV reporter, was promoted to be Ellis' new co-anchor; she was more adept and experienced, and gave the team a more solid and balanced image.
Ellis returned to New York briefly to anchor newscasts, but, rather by accident, stumbled onto a secondary career path when he was asked to appear as a spokesperson in a commercial for Anacin aspirin.
In the spring of 1989, Ellis took acting lessons at Brandeis University, and in New York where he studied voice, dialect, script analysis and advanced scene-study.
In 1991 alone, Ellis played an FBI Agent in the John Cusack/James Spader film True Colors, and the natural role of a newscaster in 29th Street, starring Danny Aiello.
Sahl (who was Reedy's partner at WHDH, who co-anchored with her yet again on NECN and the channel's produced 10pm newscast for WSBK), Maryanne Kane, and Chet Curtis, who joined in 2001 after a well-publicized divorce from Natalie Jacobson and departure from WCVB.