Bree Walker | |
|---|---|
 Walker at Common Cause Media Conference 2008 | |
| Born | Patricia Lynn Nelson (1953-02-26)February 26, 1953 (age 72) Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, Talk Show Host, News Anchor |
| Known for | work atWCBS-TV andKCBS-TV |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Bree Walker (bornPatricia Lynn Nelson; February 26, 1953) is an Americanradio talk show host, actress, anddisability-rights activist. She gained fame as the first on-air American television networknews anchor withectrodactyly.[1] Walker worked as a news anchor and reporter inSan Diego,New York City, andLos Angeles.
Walker was born inOakland, California, and raised inAustin, Minnesota. She inheritedectrodactyly, a raregenetic condition which causes missing digits andsyndactyly, which causes fused digits.
After graduating from theUniversity of Minnesota, Walker worked as adisc jockey inKansas City,New York City andSan Diego, where she went by Bree Bushaw, her first husband's name.[2]
She started her television career in 1980 atKGTV in San Diego as a consumer advocacy reporter. Established and well into her career at KGTV, Walker decided to go public with her ectrodactyly after previously keeping her hands hidden inside a pair of glove-like prosthetic ones. With them now clearly visible, she continued her newscasting career at KGTV.
Walker has also dabbled in acting, appearing as herself in the end-of-the-world science-fiction thriller,Without Warning (credited as Bree Walker-Lampley but referred to on screen as Bree Walker), and as television reporter, Wendy Sorenson, inThe Chase. She also guest-starred on an episode of thePBS children's series,Reading Rainbow, to talk about her disability.
While watching the 2003 season ofCarnivàle, anHBO television series about a Depression-era carnival traveling through theDust Bowl, Walker noticed that no cast member hadectrodactyly. She requested, created, auditioned and won the role of Sabina the Scorpion Lady.[1] Her portrayal of Sabina appeared in three episodes during the 2005 season. She showcased her webbed hands as the series probed public attitudes toward persons with highly visible disabilities. She based Sabina on characters she knew existed in the 1920s and 1930s carnivalsideshows with names like "Lobster Girl" or "Lobster Boy." These were typically the best jobs people with ectrodactyly could have, with most others being hidden away.
Walker furthered her acting career in 2006 by appearing as an inspirational woman withectrodactyly on the fourth-season premiere ofNip/Tuck.[3]
Walker shares the on-camera narrator duties withJon Elliott for the feature-length documentary film,Save KLSD: Media Consolidation and Local Radio, which was first screened in April 2012. It looks at the shrinking number of corporations that control the majority of what Americans watch and listen to on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. It was over four years in the making and was produced byJon Monday andJennifer Douglas, distributed by mondayMEDIA. She is also in the film as an expert, speaking at a media reform conference.[4][5]
In June 2007, it was announced that Walker had purchasedCindy Sheehan's 5-acre (20,000 m2) "Camp Casey" site in Crawford, Texas for $87,000, in response to Sheehan'sMay 26, 2007 announcement that she would be selling the property and ending her antiwar activities. Sheehan handed the deed to Walker during her June 9, 2007, broadcast of "The Bree Walker show."[6] Walker has preserved the property as a peace memorial and garden and keeps it open to antiwar protesters.[7] It is featured prominently on Walker's website.[8]
Walker has been married and divorced three times. She has a daughter named Andrea Layne Walker (born August 12, 1988) with her second husband, independent film and video producer Robert Walker, and a son named Aaron James Lampley with her third husband, news anchor and sportscasterJim Lampley.[9][10][11][12][13][14] Her surname is taken from her second husband.
She and her children were featured on an episode ofTLC'sMy Unique Family; she refuses to answer questions about rumors that she has silicone lip implants.[15] Her son and daughter both have ectrodactyly; she reacted very strongly on her blog to Oprah Winfrey's implication that a "normal" child would have all their fingers and their toes.
Walker was nominated and inducted into the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame in 2010 a collaboration betweenWomen's Museum of California, Commission on the Status of Women,University of California, San Diego Women's Center, andSan Diego State University Women's Studies.[16]