By MARK R. MADLER Staff Reporter Robert Iger, chief executive at Burbank-based Walt Disney Co., was inducted last month into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. Iger received his award from actress Kerry Washington, who starred in ABC Television’s top-rated series “Scandal,” in a ceremony at the Saban Media Center at the Academy’s North Hollywood headquarters. Upon accepting the award, Iger said that even as a young boy he was passionate about television and movies and knew that he wanted to be part of the industry. “So it’s hard for me to believe that a 4-year-old kid who would sit in front of a black-and-white television watching hours of the ‘Mickey Mouse Club,’ or a 19-year-old college student who took a writing and directing class taught by a man named Rod Serling, would actually grow up to be me,” Iger said. In addition to Serling, Iger recognized that he joins four of his former leaders at ABC and Disney in the Hall of Fame — Roone Arledge, Thomas Murphy, Daniel Burke and Michael Eisner — as well as Walt Disney himself. “I’m here tonight because of the examples that they set, and the values that they embraced, and, of course, the lessons that they taught me, particularly the need to take great risks in a business that is creatively driven,” Iger said. He impressed upon those in the audience that those in the television industry have a responsibility to serve viewers’ need and make a positive impact on society. “We can achieve this by telling positive stories that promote strong values and inspiring role models, but also by being truth tellers and making sure the stories that we tell accurately reflect the world that we live in,” Iger said. He also stressed the importance of increasing representation from women and other underrepresented groups both on-screen and behind-the-camera, stating, “I think this should be our number one priority.” Inducted along with Iger this year were television executive and entrepreneur Geraldine Laybourne, an early hire at Nickelodeon who later co-founded Oxygen Media with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, where she was chief executive until the channel was sold to NBCUniversal; writer-producer-director-animator-actor-singer Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy” and “The Orville”); Jay Sandrich, director of such classic sitcoms as “The Odd Couple,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Cosby Show,” and pilots for “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “The Golden Girls;” and actress Cicely Tyson.
