Lloyd Shearer
Lloyd "Skip" Shearer (December 20, 1916 – May 27, 2001[1]) was a 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]
Career
He began writing when he was a high school student.[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 the United States Army drafted Shearer,[1] causing him to leave his first job. When the military magazine Yank was established Shearer became a part of its staff.[3] In the first portion of his military assignment he lived in New York City and wrote for Yank.[1] Later in his assignment he moved to Los Angeles and there he wrote for Armed Forces Radio as part of the Pacific Theater division. He also became a correspondent for the The New York Times, being in-army.[3] In 1953 he became the West Coast correspondent of Parade and, in that magazine, operated his column from 1958 to 1991.[1] Shearer quit writing the column due to Parkinson's disease.[3] Also Shearer wrote profiles of famous people under his real name.[1]
Life
Shearer's birthplace is New York City and his birthdate is December 20, 1916.[1] Shearer's parents had immigrated from Austria and Shearer's father worked as a typesetter. Woo stated that the neighborhood where Shearer was raised was "working class".[3]
Lloyd Shearer married Marva Peterson. He had two sons. The older son, Derek, became the Ambassador of the United States to Finland, and his younger son was Cody. He also had a daughter, Brooke. At the time of his death he had four grandchildren. Lloyd Shearer died at his Los Angeles house on Thursday May 27, 2001. His family stated a heart attack had caused his death.[1]
Shearer was mentioned in the book See Here Private Hargrove and Woo stated that as a result Shearer "gained some notoriety".[further explanation needed][3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 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.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Woo, Elaine. "Lloyd Shearer; Leader of the 'Personality Parade'" (Obituaries). Los Angeles Times. May 26, 2001. p. 1. Retrieved on August 5, 2014. Also printed in: "Lloyd Shearer, Wrote `Personality Parade'" In: Sun Sentinel. May 28, 2001.
