Bob Thomas is an American Hollywood film industry biographer and reporter who has worked for the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 since 1944.

Personal life

Born in San Diego, he grew up in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, where his father was a film publicist

Publicist

A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...

. He attended UCLA. He lives in Encino with his wife, Patricia. They have three daughters.

Writing career

Thomas made his mark by engaging celebrities in activities that brought out their personalities, whether by measuring their waistline after childbirth (as he did with Betty Grable

Betty Grable

Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...

) or testing just how tall a leading lady needed to be by kissing her himself (as he did with June Haver

June Haver

June Haver , was an American film actress. She is most well known as a popular star of 20th Century-Fox musicals in the late 1940s, most notably The Dolly Sisters with Betty Grable and John Payne and also for playing the 1920s Broadway actress Marilyn Miller in Look for the Silver Lining...

). Acclaimed as the dean of Hollywood reporters, Bob Thomas has been writing about the movie business for the Associated Press since the days when Hollywood was run by the men who founded it: Jack Warner

Jack Warner

Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...

, Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...

, Harry Cohn

Harry Cohn

Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...

 and Louis B. Mayer

Louis B. Mayer

Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...

.

During his long history of reporting for the AP, Thomas authored at least 30 books. Many in the film industry credit his 1969 biography of producer Irving G. Thalberg as sparking their interest in pursuing a career behind the scenes. Other Thomas biographies include Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

, Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...

, David O. Selznick

David O. Selznick

David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...

, Walter Winchell

Walter Winchell

Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...

, Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

, Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

, Abbott & Costello, Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

, and a children's book, Walt Disney: Magician of the Movies.

His biographies on Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

 and Abbott & Costello have been made into television movies.

Nonfiction

• If I Knew When (with Debbie Reynolds
  Debbie Reynolds
  Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
  
  )
• The Art of Animation
• The Massie Case (with Peter Packer)
• King Cohn
• Thalberg
• Selznick
• The Secret Boss of California: The Life and High Times of Art Samish (with Arthur Samish
  Arthur Samish
  Arthur "Artie" H. Samish was the most influential and powerful individual lobbyist in the history of California, representing movie studios, racetracks, lawyers, insurance companies, fishing, cigarette, liquor and brewing interests...
  
  )
• The Heart of Hollywood
• Winchell
• Howard, the Amazing Mr. Hughes (with Noah Dietrich)
• Marlon: Portrait of the Rebel as an Artist
• Joan Crawford

• The Road to Hollywood (with Bob Hope
  Bob Hope
  Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
  
  )
• Bud & Lou: The Abbott and Costello Story
• The One and Only Bing
• Walt Disney: An American Original
• Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden

Awards

For contributions to the motion picture industry, Bob Thomas was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

 at 6879 Hollywood Boulevard

Hollywood Boulevard

-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...

.

In 2009, in recognition of over 60 years of covering the entertainment business for the Associated Press, the Publicists Guild awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award.

External links

• The Best Walt Disney Biographies