Bill O'Reilly

His top five favorite films are in descending order Casablanca (1942), Platoon (1986), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Schindler's List (1993) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Political commentator Bill O'Reilly was born on September 10, 1949 in New York City, to Winifred Angela (Drake) and William James O'Reilly. He was born into a classic Irish Catholic family and attended private Catholic schools. O'Reilly attended Marist College and studied history. Bill was also in the football club as a punter and wrote for the school newspaper.

Wife Maureen was born on May 11, 1966; making her almost 17 years her husband's junior.

O'Reilly studied abroad at the University of London, and after coming home played semi professional baseball before graduating with a bachelors in history in 1971. O'Reilly studied broadcast journalism at Boston University after some time as a teacher in Florida. O'Reilly interned with different newspapers and stations while earning his masters. In the mid 90's O'Reilly earned a degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. O'Reilly's early career included anchor jobs in Scranton, Denver, Portland, Hartford, and Boston. In this time he won a local Emmy and was praised for excellence in investigative reporting. O'Reilly worked as a WEBS anchor and won a second local Emmy before earning the spot of correspondent for CBS network news. He later worked as a correspondent and assignment reporter for ABC. O'Reilly became a news star when he was an anchor on "Inside Addition" where he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the murder of Joel Steinberg.

On his website he lists the following as his favorite films: The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Producers (1967), Casablanca (1942), Apocalypse Now (1979), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Unforgiven (1992), Shampoo (1975), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Viva Las Vegas (1964), Saturday Night Fever (1977), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Dirty Harry (1971), The Wolf Man (1941), Rocky (1976), Young Frankenstein (1974), A Shot in the Dark (1964), The Alamo (1960), The Blob (1958), Easy Rider (1969).

O'Reilly received his M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University in 1975.

After leaving the team, he earned his 3rd degree from the Kennedy School of government in 1995.

In 1996, O'Reilly launched "The O'Reilly Factor" the show he has anchored for 17 years. Since then he has used his show to report top political stories and it has become the #1 Cable News Show on TV. In addition to reporting the news, O'Reilly often dissects it. He has made accusations against organizations and figures for corruption, and has broken barriers in news. He often goes head to head with organizations, politicians, and celebrities in the social media. He has called out judges for court rulings he found to be poor and he has even accused people of being unAmerican. One of his most famous rivals is the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).

In 1997, 10 year-old Jeffery Curley was kidnapped and murdered by two men. His body was molested and dumped off. The two men claimed they had gotten the inspiration from literature they had read in a library from the NAMBLA, a radical organization that condones male on boy rape and sexual contact. The ACLU then defended the NAMBLA and the men responsible. Outraged, O'Reilly used his media power to shed light on the issue. However, his most famous head to head encounter was with organizations that raised money for 9/11 victims. Some faulty finances and numbers lead people to believe these organizations stole this money. O'Reilly publicly accused this organization and came head to head,with actor George Clooney, who claimed that O'Reilly was mistaken. Others that are often implicated as O'Reilly "rivals" are Michael Moore, George Soros, Alec Baldwin, and Susan Sarandon. He is also playfully rivaled on late night television with comics Jon Stewart, David Letterman, and Jay Leno. O'Reilly has some core political beliefs that lean to the right, although he is a registered Independent. O'Reilly has written books and spoken about cultural traditions such as marriage, abortion, and patriotism. He has come to conflicts with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and George Soros on issues like these. O'Reilly has also published books about history and politics. He lives in New York and is the father of two children.

He has two young children: a daughter, Madeline (born in 1998) and a son, Spencer (born in 2003).

As of 2001, has said he receives about 30,000 e-mails a day for his show The O'Reilly Factor (1996).

In 2002, he successfully started "The Radio Factor"... a 2-hour radio version of The O'Reilly Factor (1996).

Release of his book, "Who's Looking Out For You". [2003]

Sued by former The O'Reilly Factor (1996) associate producer Andrea Mackris, who accused him of sexual harassment. An out of court settlement was reached 15 days later, O'Reilly reportedly paying Mackris over $2 million without admitting guilt or issuing an apology. No guilt was ever proven on O'Reilly's part, however. (13 October 2004).

Release of his book, "Kids Are Americans Too". [2007]

Release of his book, "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir". [2008]

When O'Reilly expressed his staunch opposition to the erection of a mosque near the former site of Manhattan's Twin Towers on The View: Episode dated 14 October 2010 (2010), both Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the set in protest. Shortly after host Barbara Walters defended O'Reilly's right to his opinion, both co-hosts Goldberg and Behar later returned to their seats.

Paid with Fox News and $13 million to settle lawsuits from five women who accused him of sexual harassment.[April 2017].