On Letterman Show, Les Moonves to Reunite with Boyhood Friend

Proving once again the old adage that virtue is its own reward, CBS Early Show anchor Julie Chen will reunite her husband, CBS CEO Les Moonves, with a long-lost boyhood friend from his Jewish childhood in Valley Stream, Long Island -- and on "Late Night With David Letterman."

"Old friends are reunited every day, and thank God for that," explained the frequently mischievous Chen. "But what's unusual about this situation is that my husband's friend, who he had known in high school as Jeff Miller, had gone on to become a leader of the American Buddhist movement and a best-selling author with a new name of Surya Das."

The two had played high-school sports together but then had drifted apart after graduation, when Miller hitchhiked to India and began his training in the Buddhist philosophy, eventually becoming the most highly trained Buddhist lama in the U.S., while Moonves pursued his dream of becoming an actor, landing television roles as tough guys on Cannon and The Six Million Dollar Man before deciding on a career change. Ironically, Surya Das himself would later be featured in an episode of the ABC hit series, "Dharma and Greg," a Chuck Lorre Production that starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a couple who marry instantly on their first date despite being complete opposites.

"As a very spiritual person myself, I was totally curious to meet the guy, and to hear stories of what Les was like as a kid -- and the reunion turned out to be a warm surprise," said Chen, who is a co-host for The Early Show on CBS and has also been the host of the American version of Big Brother. "He turned out to be a very accessible person and a real sports nut like both me and Les. Our apartment has views to the West and so we all shared a beautiful sunset."

Chen says the idea to arrange the surprise reunion came while she was listening to an old Tom Petty tune in her sedan. "The lyrics came up, 'And the days went by like paper in the wind. Everything changed, then changed again. It's hard to find a friend. It's hard to find a friend,'" she recalls. "And at that moment, I knew it was the right thing to do."

Like both Moonves and Das, Chen is a native New Yorker, having attended Junior High School 194 in Queens, where she was voted "Most Intelligent and Most Likely to Succeed." She graduated high school in 1987 from St. Francis Prep after having failed entrance exams for Bronx High School of Science, the school her older sisters attended. She attended the University of Southern California and graduated in 1991 with a major in broadcast journalism and in English. One of her earlier jobs came in June of 1989, at CBS Morning News--the series which she would anchor a decade later--where she answered phones and copied faxes for distribution. The following year, while still in school, she worked for ABC NewsOne for one season as a desk assistant. She was subsequently promoted to work as a producer for the next three years. The following year, she traveled to Dayton, Ohio to work as a news anchor for WDTN-TV, from 1995 to 1997. From 1999 to 2002, Chen was the anchor of both early-morning shows, CBS Morning News & The Early Show, alongside Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson. Since 2002, she has been a co-host for The Early Show on CBS. Before CBS News she was a reporter and weekend anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City. Since 2000, she has also been the host of the American version of Big Brother.

Leslie Moonves is president and chief executive officer of CBS Corp. and also served as co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, Inc., the predecessor to CBS Corporation, from 2004 until the company split on December 31, 2005. Prior to that he had been in a series of executive positions for CBS since July 1995. On April 7, 2003, Moonves portrayed himself in an episode of The Practice. From early 2004, Moonves has made regular contributions to The Late Show with David Letterman. One of these appearances was provoked by David Letterman himself when he declared outrage that Jay Leno was featured prominently on the CBS website in an ad for CBS's telecast of the People's Choice Awards. On the Late Show, Letterman jokingly warned the "CBS stooge in the control room" to call his buddies "before things turn ugly." Leslie obliged. Later appearances have taken the same format, with Letterman discussing current events and the CBS network with the company's CEO.

Lama Surya Das is a trained and authorized American-born lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He is a poet, chant master, spiritual activist and author of many popular works on Buddhism; and a respected teacher and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. He has long been involved in charitable relief projects in the Third World and in interfaith dialogue.

Born Jeffrey Miller in 1950, and raised on Long Island, an honors graduate of the University at Buffalo, New York, Lama Surya Das spent many years in India and Tibet studying with the grand old lamas including the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, and 16th Karmapa. He is a well-known Dharma heir of Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, a renowned Nyingma master of the non-sectarian Rime movement. His name, which means "Servant of the Sun," was given to him by the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba. In 1991 Lama Surya Das returned from his two decades in Tibetan monasteries and retreats to establish the Dzogchen Foundation to help further the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. He has appeared as a special guest on Bill Maher's TV program, "Politically Incorrect" and on the Comedy Central television show, The Colbert Report. His most recent book, released in July of this year, is "Words of Wisdom" published by Koa Books. He is also the author of the best-selling "Awakening the Buddha Within."