sander "sandy" vanocur (; born alexander vinocur, january 8, 1928 – september 16, 2019) was an american television journalist and actor. he was born in cleveland, ohio. he focused on national electoral politics. after leaving nbc in 1971, vanocur worked for pbs and as a television writer for "the washington post". he joined abc news in 1977 and worked there until 1991.