Bob Thomas (reporter)
Bob Thomas | |
---|---|
Born | Robert Joseph Thomas January 26, 1922 San Diego, California, U.S. |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Encino, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Biographer, reporter |
Spouse(s) | Patricia (m. 1947–2014; his death) |
Children | Three |
Robert Joseph "Bob" Thomas (January 26, 1922 – March 14, 2014) was an American Hollywood film industry biographer and reporter who worked for the Associated Press from 1944.
Contents
Personal life
Born in San Diego in 1922,[1] he grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a film publicist. He attended UCLA. He lived in Encino with his wife, Patricia. They have three daughters.[2]
Thomas, aged 92, died on March 14, 2014 at his home.[3]
Writing career
Thomas made his mark by engaging celebrities in activities that brought out their personalities, whether by measuring their waistline after childbirth (as he did with Betty Grable) or testing just how tall a leading lady needed to be by kissing her himself (as he did with June Haver). Acclaimed as the dean of Hollywood reporters, Bob Thomas has been writing about the movie business for the Associated Press since the days when Hollywood was run by the men who founded it: Jack L. Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, Harry Cohn and Louis B. Mayer.[citation needed]
During his long history of reporting for the AP, Thomas authored at least 30 books. Many in the film industry credit his 1969 biography of producer Irving G. Thalberg as sparking their interest in pursuing a career behind the scenes. Other Thomas biographies include Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, David O. Selznick, Walter Winchell, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Howard Hughes, Abbott & Costello, Walt Disney, and a children's book, Walt Disney: Magician of the Movies.[2]
His biographies on Howard Hughes[4] and Abbott & Costello[5] have been made into television movies.[2]
Awards
For contributions to the motion picture industry, Bob Thomas received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that was paid for by his friends in advance and placed at 6879 Hollywood Boulevard.[6]
In 2009, in recognition of over 60 years of covering the entertainment business for the Associated Press, the Publicists Guild awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award.[7]
Bibliography
Nonfiction
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Fiction
For children
Anthology
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References
- ↑ "California Births, 1905 - 1995". FindMyPast.com.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (author notes from end jacket cover)
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Sources
- Bob Thomas, Los Angeles Times, Steve Proffitt, March 21, 1999
External links
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2012
- 1922 births
- 2014 deaths
- People from San Diego, California
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- Writers from California
- American biographers
- American male journalists
- American film historians
- American male writers
- Film theorists
- Associated Press reporters