O'Reilly was born on September 10, 1949, at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, to parents William James, Sr., (1924-1985) and Winifred Angela (Drake) O'Reilly, from Brooklyn and Teaneck, New Jersey, respectively. He is of Irish descent, along with a small amount of English (Colonial American) ancestry.
Early career
O'Reilly's early television news career included reporting and anchoring positions at WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he also reported the weather. At WFAA-TV in Dallas, O'Reilly was awarded the Dallas Press Club Award for excellence in investigative reporting. He then moved to KMGH-TV in Denver, where he won a local Emmy Award for his coverage of a skyjacking. O'Reilly also worked for KATU in Portland, Oregon, from 1984 to 1985, WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, and WNEV-TV (now WHDH-TV) in Boston.  In 1980, O'Reilly anchored the local news-feature program 7:30 Magazine at WCBS-TV in New York. Soon after, as a WCBS News anchor and correspondent, he won his second local Emmy, for an investigation of corrupt city marshals.  In 1982, he became a CBS News correspondent, covering the wars in El Salvador on location, and in the Falkland Islands from his base in Buenos Aires, Argentina. O'Reilly left CBS over a dispute concerning the uncredited use in a report by Bob Schieffer of footage of a riot in response to the military junta's surrender, shot by O'Reilly's crew in Buenos Aires shortly after the conclusion of the war.  In 1986, O'Reilly joined ABC News as a correspondent. He had delivered a eulogy for his friend Joe Spencer, an ABC News correspondent who died in a helicopter crash on January 22, 1986, en route to covering the Hormel meatpacker strike. ABC News president Roone Arledge, who attended Spencer's funeral, decided to hire O'Reilly after hearing the eulogy. At ABC, O'Reilly hosted daytime news briefs that previewed stories to be reported on the day's World News Tonight and worked as a general assignment reporter for ABC News programs, including Good Morning America, Nightline, and World News Tonight.

Q: How did he get started in his career?
A: O'Reilly's early television news career included reporting and anchoring positions at WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he also reported the weather.

Q: How did he get his big break?
A: ABC News president Roone Arledge, who attended Spencer's funeral, decided to hire O'Reilly after hearing the eulogy.

Q: What year was he hired?
A: In 1986, O'Reilly joined ABC News as a correspondent.

Q: Did he have a family when he started his career?
A: unknown
What else did you find interesting?
he won his second local Emmy, for an investigation of corrupt city marshals.
he won his second local Emmy, for an investigation of corrupt city marshals.