Lloyd Shearer
Lloyd "Skip" Shearer (December 20, 1916 – May 27, 2001[1]) was an American celebrity gossip columnist. From 1958 to 1991, he wrote "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" in Parade magazine.[2] In this column he used the name Walter Scott, and discussed rumors about celebrities using a question-and-answer style.[1] Shearer also wrote profiles of famous people under his real name.[1]
Career
[edit]Shearer began writing in high school.[3] He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,[1] and in 1936 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in the English language.[3] His first job was for the Durham Sun in North Carolina.[3] In 1941, Shearer was drafted into the Army.[1] When the military magazine Yank was established, Shearer joined the staff in New York City.[1][3] Later, he was transferred to Los Angeles where he wrote for Armed Forces Radio, as part of the Pacific Theater division. He also became a correspondent for The New York Times while still serving in the Army[4] and after serving, until 1953.[3] Then he became the West Coast correspondent of Parade, then starting his "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" column in 1958.[1] Shearer retired from writing the column in 1991, due to Parkinson's disease.[3]
Life
[edit]Shearer was born in New York City on December 20, 1916.[1] Shearer's parents had immigrated from Austria, and his father worked as a typesetter. The neighborhood where Shearer was raised was described as "working class".[3]
Shearer married fellow writer, Marva Peterson. They had three children: Derek, a former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, and twins Cody and Brooke. Lloyd Shearer died of a heart attack at his Los Angeles home on Thursday May 27, 2001.[1][5]
Shearer was mentioned in the 1942 best-selling book about a journalist's experiences in military service, See Here Private Hargrove. From that exposure Shearer was said to have "gained some notoriety".[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wadler, Joyce. "Lloyd Shearer, Longtime Celebrity Columnist, Dies at 84." The New York Times. May 27, 2001. Retrieved on August 5, 2014.
- ^ Cockburn, Alexander. "Why People Are Talking About Gossip." New York magazine. May 3, 1976. p. 2. Retrieved on October 5, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h
- Woo, Elaine (26 May 2001). "Lloyd Shearer; Leader of the 'Personality Parade'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- Woo, Elaine (May 28, 2001). "Lloyd Shearer, Wrote `Personality Parade'". Sun Sentinel. The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- ^ Shearer, Lloyd (Dec 30, 1945). "What's in a Name? Ask Hollywood; There is method in the movie mania to change titles and it is always very complicated. Hollywood Changes Names". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- ^ Pearson, Richard (May 25, 2001). "Celebrity Journalist Lloyd Shearer Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
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