R.I.P. Robert Osborne
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Big Magilla
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Re: R.I.P. Robert Osborne
Yes, and the feeling was mutual. Tributes from the likes of Angela Lansbury, Eve Marie Saint, Liza Minnelli and Robert Wagner keep pouring in.
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The Original BJ
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Re: R.I.P. Robert Osborne
You could tell he just LOVED movies so much. When I started watching TCM as a teenager -- the point when I started to really get into watching older films -- I looked at him almost like the grandfather I never knew, sharing movies that he adored like they were gifts he was passing on to the next generation.
And not only was it clear that he loved movies, but it was so clear he loved his job, too -- it was always a great delight to watch him before and after the movies on TCM to hear his favorite anecdotes about them.
TCM just won't feel the same without him.
And not only was it clear that he loved movies, but it was so clear he loved his job, too -- it was always a great delight to watch him before and after the movies on TCM to hear his favorite anecdotes about them.
TCM just won't feel the same without him.
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Sonic Youth
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Re: R.I.P. Robert Osborne
Actual conversation I just had.
Me: Robert Osborne just died.
Wife: Hmm... Sounds familiar. Remind me?
Me: "Hi, I'm Robert Osborne."
Wife: Oh my god!
Me: Robert Osborne just died.
Wife: Hmm... Sounds familiar. Remind me?
Me: "Hi, I'm Robert Osborne."
Wife: Oh my god!
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
Re: R.I.P. Robert Osborne
There was something very comforting about Osborne's movie introductions on TCM. I will miss him, for sure.
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Big Magilla
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Re: R.I.P. Robert Osborne
That damn Variety obit is missing quite a bit, starting with the omission of Jane Darwell, who was his first show biz mentor.
From the Hollywood Reporter's juicier gathering of info.:
Robert Osborne, the former columnist for The Hollywood Reporter who as the genial and scholarly host of Turner Classic Movies became a beloved icon to a legion of groupies with gray hair, died Monday in New York, the cable network announced. He was 84.
David Staller, his longtime partner, told The Hollywood Reporter that Osborne died in his sleep in his apartment from natural causes.
"Robert was embraced by devoted fans who saw him as a trusted expert and friend," TCM general manager Jennifer Dorian said in a statement. "His calming presence, gentlemanly style, encyclopedic knowledge of film history, fervent support of film preservation and highly personal interviewing style all combined to make him a truly world-class host.
"Robert's contributions were fundamental in shaping TCM into what it is today, and we owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid."
Osborne began his career as an actor, was mentored by the legendary comedienne Lucille Ball and became the official biographer of Oscar thanks to a series of books he wrote about the Academy Awards. Osborne missed the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival, announcing at the last minute that doctors advised him to have an undisclosed medical procedure that he had planned to put off.
Attendees were extremely disappointed not to have him there. And then, less than three weeks before the start of the 2016 event, Osborne pulled out again, saying "a health issue has come up which requires attention."
A few months after he accepted a surprising invitation from Olivia de Havilland to escort her to a televised celebration of Bette Davis’ career, the journalist joined THR in September 1977 to write reviews.
He penned the paper’s must-read Rambling Reporter column from April 1983 until he left the publication in June 2009. When Ted Turner’s TCM debuted as a competitor to the American Movie Classics cable channel on April 14, 1994, Osborne was on the air to introduce the very first film, Gone With the Wind.
He stayed with the channel as primetime host from there, introducing and providing insightful tidbits for many of the 400 movies or so movies that TCM shows every year.
He also presided over the network’s Private Screenings series, interviewing such legends as Betty Hutton, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Mickey Rooney, and hosted the TCM Classic Film Festival back in his old Hollywood stomping grounds when health permitted.
"He’s a scholar in classic film, he truly is,” actress Eva Marie Saint said of Osborne during a Private Screenings special that premiered in January 2014 and had Alec Baldwin, in a role reversal, interviewing the TCM host. “He’d make a wonderful professor. Wouldn’t you like to be in his class?"
When Angela Lansbury received her honorary Oscar at the 2013 Governors Award, the actress picked Osborne to introduce her. "I came to the conclusion that the one person who really knew my early work was Robert," she said in her acceptance speech.
Born on May 3, 1932, Osborne was raised in the farming community of Colfax, Wash. His father was a geography and history teacher. He enjoyed going to the movies and eventually worked at The Rose and The Roxy, the two movie houses in town. Once he fell while changing a film title on a marquee and broke both arms.
While attending the University of Washington, Osborne said he spent every Saturday "not drinking or partying or having a good time. I was at the library," he recalled in the Private Screenings special.
"I went through every issue of The New York Times for 20 years, taking notes on all the first-run theaters in New York, what was playing, when they changed the bill, how long a film played at Radio City Music Hall — or who was playing in it."
At a time before the Internet — heck, no one had even published a book that kept track of all the Oscar winners — and when nostalgia for Hollywood didn't exist, Osborne scribbled all his information onto pages of a loose-leaf binder he nicknamed Blackie.
"I was always into films, passionate about them, at a time when nobody was into that kind of stuff," he said. “I was getting this education about film — and there was no place to use it.”
Osborne pursued a career as an actor, and for a regional production in Seattle of the psychological thriller Night Must Fall, he landed the role of the duplicitous Danny opposite Oscar winner Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath).
The actress took an interest in Osborne and convinced him to further his acting career in Los Angeles, not New York. He stayed with her at her home in the San Fernando Valley and soon earned a six-month contact at Fox, appearing in The Californians, a TV Western starring Paul Henreid.
He met Ball after overhearing that she was looking for actors for her company, Desilu Productions, and she invited him to her house for dinner on a Friday night. Actresses Janet Gaynor and Kay Thompson were there; at one point, the guests moved to the living room, where they watched Funny Face (1957) from a 35mm projector. When Thompson and Audrey Hepburn came on the screen doing a musical number, Thompson jumped up and mimicked the motions.
At this surreal moment, Osborne recalled, “I started to say to myself, 'Did you ever believe you would be in this [situation]?’ "Then I said, 'Wait a minute, I always knew I was going to.' "
He signed with Desilu and from Ball “received a year's master class from this great artist.” He did commercials for Falstaff and Carling Black Label beers, Folgers coffee and John Hancock insurance and appeared on the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds and as a banker in the pilot for the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
Remarkably, de Havilland — whom he had been introduced to by Ball — phoned and asked him to escort her to a televised AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Davis in 1977 at the Beverly Hilton. He soon found himself at the head table with, among others, Henreid, director William Wellman and their wives.
He celebrated Feb. 27 each year — that’s the day de Havilland called to invite him to the Davis bash. (For many years afterward, he spoke to the reclusive actress, then living in Paris, on the phone every Sunday.)
Ball once gave him advice that would change his life: “We have enough actors,” she said. “We don’t have enough people writing about the industry.” So Osborne took up journalism.
He recalled that James Stewart would invite local journalists to a one-on-one lunch every year.
Actors like Stewart “weren’t really working. They were beyond their peak years. They had time to talk to you,” he recalled. “They loved somebody like me who had a background like mine because they didn’t have to explain who they were … they didn’t have to say, ‘I was a big deal.’ I knew that.”
When Osborne had difficulty uncovering which actress won an Oscar in some particular year, he decided to write the first in a series of reference books about the Academy Awards. He went on The Dinah Shore Show, and a friend from Seattle saw him and reviewed his book for The Reporter. That led him to a writing position at THR.
In 1987, the THR editor allowed him to write his Rambling Reporter column from New York — but only for a year — after he landed a gig to chat about movies on CBS’ The Morning Program, co-hosted by Mariette Hartley.
But when THR was sold to BPI Communications in 1988, the editor quit and Osborne, wanting to remain in New York, didn’t get around to reminding anyone about that agreement to return to L.A.
While working as a host for The Movie Channel, Osborne was invited by actress Dorothy Lamour to lunch with AMC execs Brad Siegel and Jim Wise. They offered him the afternoon AMC hosting slot when his Movie Channel contract expired (Bob Dorian was then AMC’s primetime host).
Siegel then called and said, scratch that: He was moving to Atlanta to start a rival network, Turner Classic Movies, based out of Atlanta, and wanted Osborne there. He jumped at the chance.
In recognition of his contributions to classic film, Osborne received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and a special award from the National Board of Review in 2008.
Staller said there will be no funeral but a memorial service is being planned. He said donations in Osborne's name can be made to the ASPCA or the Animal Medical Center of New York.
From the Hollywood Reporter's juicier gathering of info.:
Robert Osborne, the former columnist for The Hollywood Reporter who as the genial and scholarly host of Turner Classic Movies became a beloved icon to a legion of groupies with gray hair, died Monday in New York, the cable network announced. He was 84.
David Staller, his longtime partner, told The Hollywood Reporter that Osborne died in his sleep in his apartment from natural causes.
"Robert was embraced by devoted fans who saw him as a trusted expert and friend," TCM general manager Jennifer Dorian said in a statement. "His calming presence, gentlemanly style, encyclopedic knowledge of film history, fervent support of film preservation and highly personal interviewing style all combined to make him a truly world-class host.
"Robert's contributions were fundamental in shaping TCM into what it is today, and we owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid."
Osborne began his career as an actor, was mentored by the legendary comedienne Lucille Ball and became the official biographer of Oscar thanks to a series of books he wrote about the Academy Awards. Osborne missed the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival, announcing at the last minute that doctors advised him to have an undisclosed medical procedure that he had planned to put off.
Attendees were extremely disappointed not to have him there. And then, less than three weeks before the start of the 2016 event, Osborne pulled out again, saying "a health issue has come up which requires attention."
A few months after he accepted a surprising invitation from Olivia de Havilland to escort her to a televised celebration of Bette Davis’ career, the journalist joined THR in September 1977 to write reviews.
He penned the paper’s must-read Rambling Reporter column from April 1983 until he left the publication in June 2009. When Ted Turner’s TCM debuted as a competitor to the American Movie Classics cable channel on April 14, 1994, Osborne was on the air to introduce the very first film, Gone With the Wind.
He stayed with the channel as primetime host from there, introducing and providing insightful tidbits for many of the 400 movies or so movies that TCM shows every year.
He also presided over the network’s Private Screenings series, interviewing such legends as Betty Hutton, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Mickey Rooney, and hosted the TCM Classic Film Festival back in his old Hollywood stomping grounds when health permitted.
"He’s a scholar in classic film, he truly is,” actress Eva Marie Saint said of Osborne during a Private Screenings special that premiered in January 2014 and had Alec Baldwin, in a role reversal, interviewing the TCM host. “He’d make a wonderful professor. Wouldn’t you like to be in his class?"
When Angela Lansbury received her honorary Oscar at the 2013 Governors Award, the actress picked Osborne to introduce her. "I came to the conclusion that the one person who really knew my early work was Robert," she said in her acceptance speech.
Born on May 3, 1932, Osborne was raised in the farming community of Colfax, Wash. His father was a geography and history teacher. He enjoyed going to the movies and eventually worked at The Rose and The Roxy, the two movie houses in town. Once he fell while changing a film title on a marquee and broke both arms.
While attending the University of Washington, Osborne said he spent every Saturday "not drinking or partying or having a good time. I was at the library," he recalled in the Private Screenings special.
"I went through every issue of The New York Times for 20 years, taking notes on all the first-run theaters in New York, what was playing, when they changed the bill, how long a film played at Radio City Music Hall — or who was playing in it."
At a time before the Internet — heck, no one had even published a book that kept track of all the Oscar winners — and when nostalgia for Hollywood didn't exist, Osborne scribbled all his information onto pages of a loose-leaf binder he nicknamed Blackie.
"I was always into films, passionate about them, at a time when nobody was into that kind of stuff," he said. “I was getting this education about film — and there was no place to use it.”
Osborne pursued a career as an actor, and for a regional production in Seattle of the psychological thriller Night Must Fall, he landed the role of the duplicitous Danny opposite Oscar winner Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath).
The actress took an interest in Osborne and convinced him to further his acting career in Los Angeles, not New York. He stayed with her at her home in the San Fernando Valley and soon earned a six-month contact at Fox, appearing in The Californians, a TV Western starring Paul Henreid.
He met Ball after overhearing that she was looking for actors for her company, Desilu Productions, and she invited him to her house for dinner on a Friday night. Actresses Janet Gaynor and Kay Thompson were there; at one point, the guests moved to the living room, where they watched Funny Face (1957) from a 35mm projector. When Thompson and Audrey Hepburn came on the screen doing a musical number, Thompson jumped up and mimicked the motions.
At this surreal moment, Osborne recalled, “I started to say to myself, 'Did you ever believe you would be in this [situation]?’ "Then I said, 'Wait a minute, I always knew I was going to.' "
He signed with Desilu and from Ball “received a year's master class from this great artist.” He did commercials for Falstaff and Carling Black Label beers, Folgers coffee and John Hancock insurance and appeared on the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds and as a banker in the pilot for the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
Remarkably, de Havilland — whom he had been introduced to by Ball — phoned and asked him to escort her to a televised AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Davis in 1977 at the Beverly Hilton. He soon found himself at the head table with, among others, Henreid, director William Wellman and their wives.
He celebrated Feb. 27 each year — that’s the day de Havilland called to invite him to the Davis bash. (For many years afterward, he spoke to the reclusive actress, then living in Paris, on the phone every Sunday.)
Ball once gave him advice that would change his life: “We have enough actors,” she said. “We don’t have enough people writing about the industry.” So Osborne took up journalism.
He recalled that James Stewart would invite local journalists to a one-on-one lunch every year.
Actors like Stewart “weren’t really working. They were beyond their peak years. They had time to talk to you,” he recalled. “They loved somebody like me who had a background like mine because they didn’t have to explain who they were … they didn’t have to say, ‘I was a big deal.’ I knew that.”
When Osborne had difficulty uncovering which actress won an Oscar in some particular year, he decided to write the first in a series of reference books about the Academy Awards. He went on The Dinah Shore Show, and a friend from Seattle saw him and reviewed his book for The Reporter. That led him to a writing position at THR.
In 1987, the THR editor allowed him to write his Rambling Reporter column from New York — but only for a year — after he landed a gig to chat about movies on CBS’ The Morning Program, co-hosted by Mariette Hartley.
But when THR was sold to BPI Communications in 1988, the editor quit and Osborne, wanting to remain in New York, didn’t get around to reminding anyone about that agreement to return to L.A.
While working as a host for The Movie Channel, Osborne was invited by actress Dorothy Lamour to lunch with AMC execs Brad Siegel and Jim Wise. They offered him the afternoon AMC hosting slot when his Movie Channel contract expired (Bob Dorian was then AMC’s primetime host).
Siegel then called and said, scratch that: He was moving to Atlanta to start a rival network, Turner Classic Movies, based out of Atlanta, and wanted Osborne there. He jumped at the chance.
In recognition of his contributions to classic film, Osborne received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and a special award from the National Board of Review in 2008.
Staller said there will be no funeral but a memorial service is being planned. He said donations in Osborne's name can be made to the ASPCA or the Animal Medical Center of New York.
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Mister Tee
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Re: R.I.P. Robert Osborne
I feared this was coming, given his recent extended absence from TCM.
He obviously knew movies backwards and forwards, and, despite his age/identification with old films, he didn't automatically gravitate to old-fart taste (as I recall, he thought little of Titanic). He was basically perfect for his job.
Prior to Damien & Mason's book, Osborne's Academy Awards Illustrated was the best by far of the Oscar histories -- filling in far more detail than any previous volume had, and being the first to list all nominees in all categories. I believe Damien said he and Mason both devoured the book when they were young, and it was very much an inspiration to them.
He obviously knew movies backwards and forwards, and, despite his age/identification with old films, he didn't automatically gravitate to old-fart taste (as I recall, he thought little of Titanic). He was basically perfect for his job.
Prior to Damien & Mason's book, Osborne's Academy Awards Illustrated was the best by far of the Oscar histories -- filling in far more detail than any previous volume had, and being the first to list all nominees in all categories. I believe Damien said he and Mason both devoured the book when they were young, and it was very much an inspiration to them.
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Sonic Youth
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R.I.P. Robert Osborne
A bit of history has died... that is, my own personal history, having spent years watching Turner Classic Movies. R.I.P. to the world's kindliest film snob.
(Wasn't sure whether to put it here or in the Broadcast forum.)
Robert Osborne, TCM Host and Film Historian, Dies at 84
Carmel Dagan
Staff Writer
Variety.com
Film historian Robert Osborne, the effervescent primetime host of Turner Classic Movies since the cabler’s inception in 1994, has died. He was 84.
TCM’s general manager Jennifer Dorian released a statement saying, “All of us at Turner Classic Movies are deeply saddened by the death of Robert Osborne. Robert was a beloved member of the Turner family for more than 23 years. He joined us as an expert on classic film and grew to be our cherished colleague and esteemed ambassador for TCM. Robert was embraced by devoted fans who saw him as a trusted expert and friend. His calming presence, gentlemanly style, encyclopedic knowledge of film history, fervent support for film preservation and highly personal interviewing style all combined to make him a truly world-class host. Robert’s contributions were fundamental in shaping TCM into what it is today and we owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.”
Osborne was an irrepressible advocate for the films of Hollywood’s golden era who wrote the Motion Picture Academy-sanctioned “50 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards” in 1978 and a number of updates ending in 2008 with “80 Years of the Oscar.”
Osborne lived in New York but shot his TCM appearances at the cable network’s headquarters in Atlanta. As TCM’s primary on-air personality, Osborne occupied something of an unique position in the history of television: Where once it was common for channels to provide hosts for the movies they programmed, TCM is now the last U.S. movie network to regularly feature hosts who offer information about a film before it begins.
Before the launch of TCM, Osborne hosted films on the Movie Channel from 1986-93.
Osborne started in showbiz as an actor under contract to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Desilu. He made a few guest appearances on TV series including “The Beverly Hillbillies” and appeared onstage in the Ball-produced “The Desilu Revue”; a national tour of the play “Generation” with Robert Cummings; and the first production of Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Latent Heterosexual,” directed by Burgess Meredith and starring Zero Mostel. Nevertheless, Ball, impressed by his college education, suggested that Osborne write a book. (She remained a friend until her death.) He responded with a short history of the Oscars, “Academy Awards Illustrated,” leading to stints as an entertainment reporter for TV stations in Los Angeles and New York and then to a similar gig on “CBS Morning News” in the late ’80s.
Osborne joined the staff of the Hollywood Reporter in 1977 and penned its “Rambling Reporter” column from 1982-2009; he wrote breezy, personality-oriented items and also reviewed films and Broadway plays.
After Variety’s Army Archerd, Osborne was the official greeter on the red carpet for the Academy Awards from 2006-10. Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger replaced him in 2011.
As TCM sought to expand its brand beyond the smallscreen, Osborne hosted the inaugural TCM Classic Film Festival in 2010 and subsequent editions in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and he took to the seas for the TCM Classic Cruise in December 2011 and in subsequent years.
In a 2006 New York Times profile of Osborne and his apartment — at a tony Manhattan building coincidentally named the Osborne — the genial film maven gently expressed his frustration with enthusiastic but unknowledgeable fans of classic movies. After such a fan guessed that he would not know what turned out to be a familiar title, he responded, “Well, do you want me to tell you who’s in it in order of their billing or would you rather I tell you what theater it played in New York and for how long?”
He hosted TCM’s “Essentials” series of films with a series of co-hosts: Molly Haskell, Carrie Fisher, Rose McGowan, Alec Baldwin and Drew Barrymore. (“Saturday Night Live” spoofed the series in a recurring sketch with Jason Sudeikis as Osborne.) For TCM’s “Private Screening” series, Osborne interviewed stars including Lauren Bacall, Betty Hutton, Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Mitchum, Jane Powell, Anthony Quinn and Jane Russell; producer Walter Mirisch; and directors Sidney Lumet, Stanley Donen and Norman Jewison.
In addition to his TCM- and AMPAS-related activities, Osborne sponsored an annual classic-film festival, named after him, at the U. of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in Athens, Ga. The nonprofit event was held from 2005-10.
Osborne had a small role as a reporter in 1980 film “The Man With Bogart’s Face” and sent up his TCM persona in an episode of Adult Swim’s “Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law” named “Turner Classic Birdman.” He also narrated numerous film-themed documentaries or appeared onscreen offering his take on the subject matter as a film historian. Among these documentaries were a number on Alfred Hitchcock as well as one called “The Desilu Story.”
Robert Jolin Osborne was born in Colfax, Wash., served two years in the Air Force as a lieutenant and graduated from the U. of Washington’s School of Journalism.
Osborne served as a host-narrator with several symphony orchestras, including the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
He took a three-month medical leave of absence from TCM starting in July 2011 that stretched to five months, but he returned in December 2011 to a somewhat diminished set of responsibilities as Ben Manckiewicz, his fellow host on TCM, increased his on-air duties.
(Wasn't sure whether to put it here or in the Broadcast forum.)
Robert Osborne, TCM Host and Film Historian, Dies at 84
Carmel Dagan
Staff Writer
Variety.com
Film historian Robert Osborne, the effervescent primetime host of Turner Classic Movies since the cabler’s inception in 1994, has died. He was 84.
TCM’s general manager Jennifer Dorian released a statement saying, “All of us at Turner Classic Movies are deeply saddened by the death of Robert Osborne. Robert was a beloved member of the Turner family for more than 23 years. He joined us as an expert on classic film and grew to be our cherished colleague and esteemed ambassador for TCM. Robert was embraced by devoted fans who saw him as a trusted expert and friend. His calming presence, gentlemanly style, encyclopedic knowledge of film history, fervent support for film preservation and highly personal interviewing style all combined to make him a truly world-class host. Robert’s contributions were fundamental in shaping TCM into what it is today and we owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.”
Osborne was an irrepressible advocate for the films of Hollywood’s golden era who wrote the Motion Picture Academy-sanctioned “50 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards” in 1978 and a number of updates ending in 2008 with “80 Years of the Oscar.”
Osborne lived in New York but shot his TCM appearances at the cable network’s headquarters in Atlanta. As TCM’s primary on-air personality, Osborne occupied something of an unique position in the history of television: Where once it was common for channels to provide hosts for the movies they programmed, TCM is now the last U.S. movie network to regularly feature hosts who offer information about a film before it begins.
Before the launch of TCM, Osborne hosted films on the Movie Channel from 1986-93.
Osborne started in showbiz as an actor under contract to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Desilu. He made a few guest appearances on TV series including “The Beverly Hillbillies” and appeared onstage in the Ball-produced “The Desilu Revue”; a national tour of the play “Generation” with Robert Cummings; and the first production of Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Latent Heterosexual,” directed by Burgess Meredith and starring Zero Mostel. Nevertheless, Ball, impressed by his college education, suggested that Osborne write a book. (She remained a friend until her death.) He responded with a short history of the Oscars, “Academy Awards Illustrated,” leading to stints as an entertainment reporter for TV stations in Los Angeles and New York and then to a similar gig on “CBS Morning News” in the late ’80s.
Osborne joined the staff of the Hollywood Reporter in 1977 and penned its “Rambling Reporter” column from 1982-2009; he wrote breezy, personality-oriented items and also reviewed films and Broadway plays.
After Variety’s Army Archerd, Osborne was the official greeter on the red carpet for the Academy Awards from 2006-10. Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger replaced him in 2011.
As TCM sought to expand its brand beyond the smallscreen, Osborne hosted the inaugural TCM Classic Film Festival in 2010 and subsequent editions in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and he took to the seas for the TCM Classic Cruise in December 2011 and in subsequent years.
In a 2006 New York Times profile of Osborne and his apartment — at a tony Manhattan building coincidentally named the Osborne — the genial film maven gently expressed his frustration with enthusiastic but unknowledgeable fans of classic movies. After such a fan guessed that he would not know what turned out to be a familiar title, he responded, “Well, do you want me to tell you who’s in it in order of their billing or would you rather I tell you what theater it played in New York and for how long?”
He hosted TCM’s “Essentials” series of films with a series of co-hosts: Molly Haskell, Carrie Fisher, Rose McGowan, Alec Baldwin and Drew Barrymore. (“Saturday Night Live” spoofed the series in a recurring sketch with Jason Sudeikis as Osborne.) For TCM’s “Private Screening” series, Osborne interviewed stars including Lauren Bacall, Betty Hutton, Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Mitchum, Jane Powell, Anthony Quinn and Jane Russell; producer Walter Mirisch; and directors Sidney Lumet, Stanley Donen and Norman Jewison.
In addition to his TCM- and AMPAS-related activities, Osborne sponsored an annual classic-film festival, named after him, at the U. of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in Athens, Ga. The nonprofit event was held from 2005-10.
Osborne had a small role as a reporter in 1980 film “The Man With Bogart’s Face” and sent up his TCM persona in an episode of Adult Swim’s “Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law” named “Turner Classic Birdman.” He also narrated numerous film-themed documentaries or appeared onscreen offering his take on the subject matter as a film historian. Among these documentaries were a number on Alfred Hitchcock as well as one called “The Desilu Story.”
Robert Jolin Osborne was born in Colfax, Wash., served two years in the Air Force as a lieutenant and graduated from the U. of Washington’s School of Journalism.
Osborne served as a host-narrator with several symphony orchestras, including the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
He took a three-month medical leave of absence from TCM starting in July 2011 that stretched to five months, but he returned in December 2011 to a somewhat diminished set of responsibilities as Ben Manckiewicz, his fellow host on TCM, increased his on-air duties.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler