George's television career began in 1974 as a co-host on the comedy show
Candid Camera.
CBS Sports CBS Sports producers approached George to become a sportscaster in 1974. The following year, she joined the cast of
The NFL Today, co-hosting live pregame shows before
National Football League games. She was one of the first women to have a nationally prominent role in television sports coverage. As a former beauty queen with a limited television background, she was criticized for not possessing the traditional qualifications for a sportscaster. After three seasons on
The NFL Today, she was replaced by another beauty queen,
Jayne Kennedy. George returned to the show in 1980 and remained until 1984. She became known for her interviews with athletes.
Hannah Storm, an anchor at ESPN's
SportsCenter, called George "a true trailblazer" for being an inspirational role model for women who wanted to pursue careers in sportscasting. She also worked on
horse racing events, including the
Preakness Stakes and the
Belmont Stakes.
Peanuts George introduced the animated film
Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown on CBS TV and was name-dropped in the 1977–1978 series of the
Peanuts newspaper cartoon strip.
CBS Morning News In 1985, CBS settled on Phyllis George to serve as a permanent anchor for its morning news program. George was given a three-year contract following a two-week trial run. As co-anchor, she interviewed newsmakers including then–First Lady
Nancy Reagan. A low point of her eight-month stint on
The CBS Morning News happened when George embarrassed herself during a May 1985 interview with
Gary Dotson and
Cathleen Webb. Dotson just had been freed after six years in prison on a rape charge after Webb recanted her claim that he was the assailant, admitting to making the accusation after discovering she had become pregnant through consensual sex with her boyfriend, fearful that her foster parents would kick her out of their home. Both appeared on the CBS program as part of (as George later told Tom Shales of
The Washington Post) a Webb-Dotson press tour "charade." Both were on or had appeared on
NBC News and
ABC News as well as other media outlets. As the segment began to wrap, George first suggested the two shake hands. After a brief hesitation from them and no hand shake, George then proposed they "hug it out." A brief moment of awkwardness followed but no hug. The invitation to embrace was deemed highly inappropriate prompting a few phone calls from irate CBS viewers. George also was criticized in the press.
Other television George had a brief stint on a television news version of
People magazine in 1978, and a job as a morning television talk show host as co-anchor of the
CBS Morning News in 1985. She also hosted her own prime-time talk show on
The Nashville Network, 1994's
A Phyllis George Special, on which she interviewed then-President
Bill Clinton, and a 1998 talk show titled ''Women's Day
on the cable network PAX. George also appeared as a guest on The Muppet Show'' in 1979.
Business interests pageant George founded two companies in the course of her business career, the first of which was "Chicken by George" chicken fillets. In 1988 after operating for only two years, George sold the company to
Hormel Foods, which agreed to operate it as a separate division. In 1991, George received the "Celebrity Women Business Owner of the Year" from the National Association of Women Business Owners. She also wrote or co-authored five books—three about crafts, one on dieting (her first book,
The I Love America Diet, published in 1982), and the final one published during her lifetime,
Never Say Never (2002). George was the founder of the
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, and was an avid
folk and traditional arts collector. She was also a founding member of the
Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship. George resurfaced in 2000 when she played a minor character in
Meet the Parents. It was one of her very few film roles. ==Personal life and death==