Bob Thomas (reporter)
Bob Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Joseph Thomas January 26, 1922 San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Died | March 14, 2014 (aged 92) Encino, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Biographer, reporter |
| Spouse |
Patricia (m. 1947) |
| Children | 3 |
Robert Joseph Thomas (January 26, 1922 – March 14, 2014) was an American film industry biographer and reporter who worked for the Associated Press from 1944 to 2010.
As of 2014, he was twice listed in the Guinness World Records, for the longest career as a reporter, and for the most consecutive Academy Awards shows covered by an entertainment reporter.[1]
Biography
Thomas was born in San Diego, California in 1922. He grew up in Los Angeles, where his father worked as a publicist for Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, and Columbia Pictures.[2]
Thomas first joined the Associated Press in Los Angeles in 1943, where he aspired to be a war correspondent. However, he was assigned as a correspondent in Fresno, California, where he stayed for more than a year before quitting. He returned to the Los Angeles bureau in 1944 and was appointed as their entertainment reporter. He was also told to use the name "Bob Thomas" as his birth name was thought to be too formal.[3] There, Thomas interviewed celebrities in activities that brought out their personalities, whether by measuring their waistlines 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, Thomas had been writing about the film industry 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.[4]
During his career at 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 in film production.[5] Other subjects also included Liberace, Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, David O. Selznick, Walter Winchell, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Howard Hughes, Abbott and Costello, Ethel Merman and Walt Disney.[6]
Personal life
He lived in Encino with his wife, Patricia. They had three daughters.[5] Thomas, aged 92, died on March 14, 2014 at his home.[1]
Awards and honors
For contributions to the motion picture industry, Thomas received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the first author-reporter to be given this honor,[1] which was paid for by his friends in advance and placed at 6879 Hollywood Boulevard.[7] In 2009, in recognition of over 60 years of covering the entertainment business for the Associated Press, the Publicists Guild awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award.[8]
Bibliography
Nonfiction
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Fiction
For children
Anthology
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References
- ^ a b c Rogers, John (March 14, 2014). "Bob Thomas, dean of Hollywood reporters, dies". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
- ^ Trounson, Rebecca (March 15, 2014). "Bob Thomas dies at 92; AP newsman saw it all on Hollywood beat". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ "Bob Thomas, dean of Hollywood reporters, dies". Associated Press. March 14, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ Hollywood Walk of Fame
- ^ a b Proffitt, Steve (March 21, 1999). "Bob Thomas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c Thomas, Bob (1978). Joan Crawford: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-24033-1. (author notes from end jacket cover)
- ^ "Bob Thomas; Hollywood Walk of Fame". HWOF.com.
- ^ Cohen, Sandy (February 19, 2009). "AP's Bob Thomas wins lifetime achievement award". The Times Herald Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
- ^ Bob Thomas’s The Art of Animation|Cartoon Brew
- ^ The Story of Disney’s “The Art of Animation”|Cartoon Research
