Journalist. Born in the Bronx borough of New York City, he was a writer for the trade magazine Daily Variety for 52 years. A graduate of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1941, he began his career as a mailroom attendant at Paramount Pictures before moving to the Associated Press in October 1945 as an entertainment reporter. He joined the editorial staff of Daily Variety in 1953 where he reported on the news of Hollywood until September 2005. He was the official greeter at the Oscar Awards show for 47 years, interviewing stars as they walked the famed academy red carpet. He was one of the first Hollywood reporters to break the story about Rock Hudson’s link to the AIDs disease, and was a frequent critic of Charlton Heston and the National Rifle Association (NRA). In 1984 he was the recipient of a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. He died from lung cancer at the age of 87, resulting from exposure to asbestos while serving in the United States Navy during the Second World War. (bio by: Nils M. Solsvik Jr.)