Since July 4th, 1977 when she signed on as co-anchor of "Action News at 5:30," Detroiters have trusted Diana Lewis to guide them through stories large and small, good and bad. Now, three decades later, Diana continues to be one of the most recognized and respected faces in local television as anchor of "Action News" at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Diana started her career in broadcasting in 1968 as producer and talent of "Black Book" at WPVI in her hometown of Philadelphia. She then moved into news before the call came in 1974 from KABC TV 7 in Hollywood where she worked as weekend anchor and consumer reporter.
Lewis is most often asked about her silver screen performance opposite Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky" and "Rocky 5," as well as several other movie and television roles on shows such as "The Twilight Zone," "Hunter," "The Gary Shandling Show," "Murder, She Wrote," and "The Million Dollar Caper."
In July 2008, Diana was inducted into the Michigan Broadcasters Association's Hall of Fame.
Lewis was dubbed by Corp! Magazine one of "Michigan's 95 Most Powerful Women." She says one of her missions is to be a model of reassurance, to women in particular, that anything is possible with hard work and drive. "It can be done," she advises, "but you have to go after your goal and stick with it!"
Diana is most grateful that her career has allowed her a great chance to contribute in the community. In fact, her contributions have resulted in honors and awards by hundreds of Michigan organizations and notables. Most recently, Diana and Glenda Lewis were honored by the Detroit City Council with a proclamation recording their journalistic inroads in the history books of Detroit. For her efforts supporting organ and tissue donation, Diana was invited to speak before the Michigan State Senate, being the only reporter to have ever addressed this legislative body and the Women's Justice Center of My Sister's Place has awarded Diana with their Legacy of Legends Leadership Award.
In 1995, she proudly accepted the Silver Circle Award, celebrating her years of devoted service to the television industry. In 2002, Diana was honored with two Emmys: the Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded to her on stage by her good friend Regis Philbin, as well as Best News Anchor. What’s more, in 2003, the Michigan Business and Professional Association honored Diana with the Media Award for her objective reporting of the news and involvement in the community. In May of 2007 the Detroit News named Diana Lewis a Best Local TV Anchor.
When Diana is not at the station, she devotes herself to her husband, Glenn, an Emmy Award winning editor in Hollywood, and her family. Donna Lewis-Crawford is Diana and Glenn's eldest daughter and mother of Diana's granddaughter, Audra Terrell Crawford. Incidentally, Audra shares her middle name with that of her aunt, Glenda Terrell Lewis-Hall, who also joined Diana's WXYZ family as weekend news anchor and reporter in 2003.
Working with Glenda, led to Diana's proudest "WXYZ moment" when she co-anchored the 11 p.m. news with her daughter on Mother's Day Eve, 2004. The Museum of Television and Radio verifies the pairing as the first-known mother-daughter TV news team in the country.
If you have any stories or questions for Diana email her at dlewis@wxyz.com.
