Obituaries
OBIT: Entertainment Writer Bob Thomas
Covering 66 Oscar ceremonies in his long career, Thomas was 92.
Longtime Associated Press entertainment writer Bob Thomas died at his Encino home today. He was 92.
Thomas covered 66 Oscar ceremonies and reported on generations of stars - - from Clark Gable to Tom Cruise, according to the Associated Press, which described him as a last link to Hollywood's studio age before his 2010 retirement after a career of nearly 70 years.
Thomas died of age-related illnesses at his home in Encino, his daughter, Janet Thomas, told the AP.
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He wrote nearly three dozen books, including biographies of Howard Hughes and Marlon Brando and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for most consecutive Academy Awards shows covered by an entertainment reporter and for longest career as an entertainment reporter.
The son of a newspaper editor who became a Hollywood press agent, Thomas joined the AP in Los Angeles in 1943. Years later, it was Thomas who filed AP's bulletin that Robert F. Kennedy had been shot at the Ambassador Hotel.
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Thomas is survived by his wife of 67 years, three daughters and three grandchildren. Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
--City News Service
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