Ted Turner has left his mark on the media landscape by creating CNN, WTBS, MGM, TNT, and Cartoon Network. He is also the creator of the animated television show Captain Planet and the Planeteers. He is the former owner of the WCW and co-founder of Ted's Montana Grill, which now has expanded to 46 restaurants located in 16 states. Turner and George McKerrow Jr. (a restaurateur) opened their first Ted's Montana Grill in Columubus, Ohio, in 2010.
Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1938. His family moved to Savannah, Georgia when he was a young boy. Turner attended a private all boys academy called The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He then attended Brown University where he was the captain of the sailing team and vice president of the Brown Debating Union. His was a Classics major, which was quite a disappointment to his father. So, later on he decided to change his major to Economics. He never graduated from Brown University because he was caught with a girl in his dorm, which resulted in expulsion. In 1989, Ted returned to campus to deliver a speech for the National Association of College Broadcasters, and receive an honorary B.A. from the University.After he was expelled from school, Turner took over his fathers thriving Billboard business, in Macon, Georgia. He installed himself as the president and chief executive of Turner Advertising Company. The business became quite a success and Turner used the profits to purchase many Southern radio stations. He then sold the radio stations and bought a UHF television station, WTCG. He was sure it would be a money maker, and it was. He would pick up shows that VHF would let go including I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, Star Trek and others. Later he bought UHF station WRET, channel 36. In 1980, he created CNN, and bought the Atlanta Hawks from Tom Cousins. In 1986, Turner purchased MGM/UA for $1.5 billion, but later sold it back to investor Kirk Kerkorian, but kept some of the pre-merger films and television library. Turner then started up TNT and began showing some of the old reruns mixed with new programs. He also launched Turner Classic Movies.
In 1986, Turner Entertainment Company was born, and in 1988, Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions which he changed to World Championship Wrestling. In 1990 he created the Turner Foundation, and came up with the idea of the environmental superhero, Captain Planet. In 1993, he co-founded The Moscow Independent Broadcasting Corporation, with Eduard Sagalejev, a Russian journalist. When Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, Turner became the vice chairman and head of the cable networks division for Time Warner.
Ted Turner has been married three times. The first was Judy Nye (1960), then Jane Shirley Smith (1965) and finally actress Jane Fonda (1991). All ended in divorce. Between the three marriages, Turner is the father of five children.
