Army Archerd | |
|---|---|
 Archerd at the 1988 Academy Awards | |
| Born | Armand Andre Archerd (1922-01-13)January 13, 1922 Bronx,New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 8, 2009(2009-09-08) (aged 87) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Armand Andre Archerd (January 13, 1922[1] – September 8, 2009)[2] was an Americancolumnist forVariety for over fifty years before retiring his "Just for Variety" column in September 2005.[3] In November 2005, Archerd began blogging forVariety and was working on a memoir when he died.
Archerd was born inThe Bronx, New York, and graduated fromUCLA in 1941. He was hired byVariety to replace columnistSheilah Graham (former girlfriend ofF. Scott Fitzgerald) in 1953. His "Just for Variety" column appeared on page two ofDaily Variety and swiftly became popular in Hollywood. Archerd broke many exclusive stories, reporting from film sets, announcing pending deals, giving news of star-related hospitalizations, marriages, and births. In 1984, he was given a star onHollywood's Walk of Fame, in front ofMann's Chinese Theater, where he had emceed dozens of movie premieres.
One of his most significant scoops was in his July 23, 1985, column, when he printed thatRock Hudson, despite denials from the actor's publicists and managers, was undergoing treatment forAIDS.
Archerd wasJewish[2] and a strong proponent of theSimon Wiesenthal Center andHolocaust awareness. He was married toSelma Fenning Archerd, a former actress, from November 15, 1969, until his death. They had one child and lived inWestwood, Los Angeles, California.
Archerd made four appearances on the popular, long-running game showThe Hollywood Squares in the 1970s. His bluffs to questions fromPeter Marshall became legendary, as he was able to fool contestants into believing his (often ridiculous) answers.[citation needed] Some say[who?] he was even better than the accepted champion in that regard, long-time participantJohn Davidson. Also in that decade, Archerd and his wife Selma made appearances on the game showTattletales.
He made several appearances in TV series, includingBurke's Law (1964),Hollywood Backstage,[4]Batman (episode 39),Mannix (1967), andMarcus Welby, M.D., and films such asThe Young Runaways (1968),The Outfit (1973),Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976),Gable and Lombard (1976),California Suite (1978),The French Atlantic Affair (1979) andThe Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980).
Archerd died atRonald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from a rare form oflung cancer (pleuralmesothelioma), as a result of his exposure toasbestos in the Navy during World War II.[2]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Teacher's Pet | Himself | Uncredited |
| 1963 | A New Kind of Love | Onlooker | Uncredited |
| 1963 | Under the Yum Yum Tree | Writer | Uncredited |
| 1964 | What a Way to Go! | TV Announcer | Uncredited |
| 1964 | Kisses for My President | Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1966 | The Oscar | Press Conference Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1967 | Rough Night in Jericho | Waiter | Uncredited |
| 1968 | Planet of the Apes | Gorilla | Uncredited |
| 1968 | Wild in the Streets | Himself | Uncredited |
| 1968 | The Young Runaways | Himself | |
| 1970 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | Gorilla | Uncredited |
| 1971 | Escape from the Planet of the Apes | Referee | |
| 1973 | The Thief Who Came to Dinner | Newsman | Uncredited |
| 1973 | The Outfit | Butler | |
| 1976 | Gable and Lombard | Emcee | |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Premiere MC | |
| 1978 | California Suite | Himself | |
| 1980 | The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood | Himself | |
| 1981 | The Devil and Max Devlin | Himself | |
| 1986 | Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star | Television Host | |
| 1990 | Repossessed | Himself |
1975 La Femme oubliée Columbo Army Archerd (lui-même) (VF : Jacques Thébault)
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
