Posted on 09/08/2009 6:58:01 PM PDT by Borges
LOS ANGELES – Army Archerd, whose breezy column for the entertainment trade publication Daily Variety kept tabs on various Hollywood doings for more than a half-century, has died. He was 87.
Archerd's spokeswoman said he died Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs strongly tied to asbestos exposure.
Over the years, Archerd won praise from the Hollywood establishment for always checking the accuracy of his news tips before printing them. He had an extensive phone directory of much-guarded private numbers that he would use to call movie stars and studio bosses directly to ferret out which rumors were true and which were not.
His biggest scoop came in 1985 when he was first to report that veteran leading man Rock Hudson had AIDS. It was the first time a major Hollywood star was disclosed to be an AIDS victim, and it helped break down some of the secrecy surrounding the disease.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“Hollywood’s Original Blogger” Rest in peace. I wonder what he thought of the new TMZ style and out of control papparazzi.
Wow...a lifetime doing the Lord’s work.Revealing that Rock Hudson had AIDS? Earth shattering!
His family can find a good lawyer to make a killing on that Mesthelioma thing... Several Attorneys advertise on cable for clients like that.
They usually begin like this:
“If you or a loved one have...”
He inherited the mantle from the previous Gossip Columnists such as:
Hedda Hopper
Louella Parsons
Walter Winchell
Earl Wilson
RIP, Mr. Archerd.
I was informed that Rock Hudson was gay circa 1967, No I am not but knew someone who was.
I recall hearing the joke with fellow 3rd graders in 1965-66. The way I recall it - it was about Rock Hudson marrying Jim Nabors (!) BTW - this was at an elementary school in Wisconsin. At the time and with the naivete which goes along with being eight, I don’t think any of us understood why the joke was funny, only that it was impossible for a man to marry another man. I guess 3rd graders today, in several states, couldn’t use that as a basis for laughs.
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