Geraldo Rivera

Geraldo Rivera was born on July 4, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA as Gerald Michael Riviera.

Exposed deplorable conditions in "Willowbrook State School," an institution for people with developmental disabilities, in early 1972. Publicity from the class-action lawsuit against the state of New York that soon followed was a major contributing factor in the passing of a federal law called "Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980.".

Hosted ABC's Good Night America: Episode dated 6 March 1975 (1975) the very night Abraham Zapruder's film footage of President John F. Kennedy's assassination was first televised for the public in 1975.

Release of his book, "A Special Kind of Courage: Profiles of Young Americans". [1976]

The fictional news anchorman character Hector Ramirez which appeared in several popular cartoon series during the 1980s (G.I. Joe (1985), The Transformers (1984), Jem (1985) and InHumanoids (1986), all produced by Marvel-Sunbow Production) was a parody of Rivera.

His most famous program was The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults (1986) that aired in April 1986. When Chicago's Lexington Hotel was being demolished, a sealed vault was discovered. Rivera hosted the live program that was going to climax with the opening of the vault, supposedly revealing Al Capone's treasure or a more gruesome find. The biggest find was an empty whiskey bottle. The hype generated a record rating of 57 with an estimated audience of 30,000,000. The term "Al Capone's Vault" has come to mean any overhyped event that leads to nothing.

His mother, Lillie/Lilian Friedman (1919-June 3, 2018), was a Jewish American of Russian Jewish ancestry, daughter of Isaac Michael and Tillie Krivel Friedman. She was born in New Jersey, to an Orthodox Jewish family from Dolhinov, Belarus. They had recently lived in various provinces in Canada. His father, Cruz "Allen" Rivera (October 1915-November 1987), was a Puerto Rican of Spanish ancestry, who was raised Roman Catholic. Lilian and Cruz moved to Florida, where Cruz had a fatal heart attack on Thanksgiving Day of 1987 and, as Geraldo mentioned in light of the British Petrolum disaster, where his ashes were scattered. The widowed Lillian Rivera subsequently lived in Sarasota and Siesta Key. She continued to be close to her children, all of whom she had raised Jewish, and even appeared with Craig on one episode of 'Geraldo at Large' from Florida via satellite as well as on Geraldo's 40th anniversary special in studio.Meanwhile, Geraldo named his youngest son, Cruz, in honor of his father, and his youngest child, Solita Liliana, in honor of his Judaism and his mother.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world. [1991]

Children: Isabella Holmes (b. 7 November 1992) and Simone Cruickshank (b. September 1994) by C. C. Dyer; Gabriel Miguel (b. 2 July 1979) by Sherryl Raymond; Cruz (b. 1987) by a previous relationship; Solita Liliana (b. August 2005) by Erica Levy.

He is an actor, known for Contact (1997), All About Steve (2009) and Primary Colors (1998).

Joined Fox News Channel in November 2001 as a war correspondent.

Geraldo Rivera and Erica Levy welcomed their daughter, Solita Liliana, on August 2, 2005. He was 62, and she was 30 at the time of Sol's birth. This was his fifth child and third daughter, while it was her first and only child. He has also since said that after having five children, he's "done" .

Release of his book, "His Panic: Why America Fear Hispanics in the U.S.". [2008]

He underwent knee replacement surgery on his left knee on September 28, 2009. He also underwent back surgery after a trip to Afghanistan, and was off work for two weeks.

On his KABC radio show on October 1, 2012, he identified his family as the following in terms of political affiliation: Isabella as a Republican, Simone, Gabe, and Erica Levy as Democrats; and Cruz as not even registered to vote.

His first grandchild is Jace Rivera, and his second grandchild is Desmond Samuel Rivera (b. September 2014). The respective fathers are Cruz and Gabriel Rivera.

On Hannity (2009) on February 4, 2015, he mentioned that his long-since-ex-wife C.C. Dyer miscarried six IVF-conceived children during their attempts to have children. Their seventh-IVF-conceived child was born full term and named Isabella.