Army Archerd

Armand Andre Archerd (January 13, 1922[1] – September 8, 2009)[2] was an American columnist for Variety for over fifty years before retiring his "Just for Variety" column in September 2005.[3] In November 2005, Archerd began blogging for Variety and was working on a memoir when he died.

Army Archerd
Army Archerd at the 1988 Academy Awards
Born
Armand Andre Archerd

(1922-01-13)January 13, 1922
DiedSeptember 8, 2009(2009-09-08) (aged 87)
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Spouse(s)
Joan Paul
(m. 1944; div. 1969)

Selma (Fenning) Archerd
(m. 1969; died 2009)
Children2

Biography

Archerd was born in The Bronx, New York, and graduated from UCLA in 1941. He was hired by Variety to replace columnist Sheilah Graham (former girlfriend of F. Scott Fitzgerald) in 1953. His "Just for Variety" column appeared on page two of Daily Variety and swiftly became popular in Hollywood. Archerd broke countless 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 on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, in front of Mann'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 that Rock Hudson, despite denials from the actor's publicists and managers, was undergoing treatment for AIDS.

Archerd was Jewish[2] and a strong proponent of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Holocaust awareness. He was married to Selma Archerd, a former actress, from November 15, 1969, until his death. They had one child and lived in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.

Archerd made four appearances on the popular, long-running game show The Hollywood Squares in the 1970s. His bluffs to questions from Peter Marshall became legendary, as he was able to fool contestants into believing his (often ridiculous) answers. Some say he was even better than the accepted champion in that regard, long-time participant John Davidson. Also in that decade, Archerd and his wife Selma made appearances on the game show, Tattletales.

He made several appearances in TV series, like Burke's Law (1964), Batman (episode 39), Mannix (1967), and Marcus Welby, M.D., and films such as The 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) and The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980).

Archerd died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from a rare form of lung cancer (pleural mesothelioma), as a result of his exposure to asbestos in the Navy during World War II.[2]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1958Teacher's PetHimselfUncredited
1963A New Kind of LoveOnlookerUncredited
1963Under the Yum Yum TreeWriterUncredited
1964What a Way to Go!TV AnnouncerUncredited
1964Kisses for My PresidentReporterUncredited
1966The OscarPress Conference ReporterUncredited
1967Rough Night in JerichoWaiterUncredited
1968Planet of the ApesGorillaUIncredited
1968Wild in the StreetsHimselfUncredited
1968The Young RunawaysHimself
1970Beneath the Planet of the ApesGorillaUncredited
1971Escape from the Planet of the ApesReferee
1973The Thief Who Came to DinnerNewsmanUncredited
1973The OutfitButler
1976Gable and LombardEmcee
1976Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved HollywoodPremiere MC
1978California SuiteHimself
1980The Happy Hooker Goes HollywoodHimself
1981The Devil and Max DevlinHimself
1986Hyper Sapien: People from Another StarTelevision Host
1990RepossessedHimself

References

  1. Some sources, including Variety, cite 1919 as his year of birth; the Social Security Death Index cites 1922
  2. Abcarian, Robin (2009-09-08). "Army Archerd dies at 90; Variety columnist watched over Hollywood for half a century". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  3. "'Just for Variety' column to end after 52 years". August 3, 2005. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
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