NEW YORK - Barbara Walters will profile her picks for the ten most fascinating people of 2006 tonight on ABC at 10 p.m. EST, and there's a surprise in the line-up. Bruce Murray, a Johnstown, Pennsylvania plumber who only twice in his life strayed more than forty miles from home, will join Tom Cruise, Condeleeza Rice, child star Dakota Fanning and six others on the show.
Murray said that he has no idea why Ms. Walters wants to profile him but noted that he did take piano lessons as a child and retains aspirations of being a sports agent. "Maybe they're putting me on the TV [show] as a sort of, you know, beacon or what have you, to, like, show people that you can still have dreams in this country, or whatever," Murray said.
We caught up with Ms. Walters and asked her why a Johnstown plumber had been named one of the year's most fascinating people. A look of horror mixed with disgust leapt across her face, as if this was the first she'd heard of it. She quickly recovered and explained that Murray "represents the working American, the backbone of our country."
Although Murray said he wants to meet Dakota Fanning, ABC ruled that out because it turns out Murray is a convicted sex offender, having molested two children while on a toilet repair job.
