Robert Osborne dies at 84; genial student of films hosted Turner Classic Movies
Robert Osborne, who displayed an encyclopedic knowledge — and love — of film history as the primary host of Turner Classic Movies, died Monday morning at age 84, said his partner of 20 years, theater director and producer David Staller.
Osborne died of natural causes in his sleep at home in New York City, Staller said.
“It’s difficult to imagine a planet without him,” Staller said. “He made the choice to call it a day, and he wants everyone to know that he’ll see them at the after party.”
The genial, silver-haired and dapper Osborne was a bona fide movie connoisseur who displayed his wide knowledge of films on TCM since the 24-hour commercial-free cable network’s launch in 1994.
“Hi, I’m Robert Osborne,” he’d cordially greet viewers from a stylish living-room set and quickly begin serving up fascinating information and insider trivia about the movie that was about to be shown. At the end of each film, the man Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales dubbed “an avatar of erudition” offered his closing remarks.
Osborne was a longtime columnist for the Hollywood Reporter and the “official biographer” of the Academy Awards, writing a series of books chronicling the Oscars. In a 2013 Los Angeles Times interview with Susan King, Osborne said he thought the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected him to write the official Oscar history because in previous books he stuck to facts, not opinions.
“That goes back to a book I read a long time ago about movie musicals,” Osborne said. “Whoever wrote it said ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ was the best movie musical ever made. I thought it’s great, but what if I like ‘The Band Wagon’ better? I found it insulting. I don’t think a writer’s opinion in this case is important.”
With an extensive library of films spanning the decades, Osborne was clearly in his element on TCM.
“For anyone who loves movies like I do, Turner Classic Movies will be like falling into paradise,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 1994 when he was named host.
A resident of New York City since the late 1980s, he’d generally fly to Atlanta once a month to shoot a series of opening and closing segments for upcoming films. Viewers looked forward to hearing his comments on each…
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