# Robert Osborne

Robert Jolin Osborne (/ˈɒzbɔːrn/; May 3, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American film historian, author, actor and the primary television host for the premium cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for over twenty years. Prior to hosting at TCM, Osborne had been a host on The Movie Channel. He had also worked as a news columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. Osborne wrote the official history of the Academy Awards, with the first edition published in 1988.

## Early life

Osborne was born on May 3, 1932, in Colfax, Washington. His parents were Robert Eugene Osborne, a public school teacher, and Hazel Ida (née Jolin). In 1941, Osborne's fascination with Hollywood began when his mother purchased for him the August edition of Modern Screen magazine featuring Lana Turner; inside, there was an advertisement for Kiss the Boys Goodbye, in which Mary Martin's lips were colored red in a black-and-white spread.
At twelve years old, he landed a summer job at the Rose Theatre, where he changed the posters in the glass cases and changed the film titles on the marquee using a step ladder. After a year, he became a theatre usher and when was 15, he was reassigned as a ticket taker. In 1948, his family relocated to Everett, Washington. There, he attended Everett High School. He graduated in 1950, and gave a commencement speech titled "Youth Views the Schools."
Osborne graduated from the University of Washington School of Journalism in 1954. He then served two years in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Seattle, where he acted in local theater. There, he appeared in a stage production of Night Must Fall with actress Jane Darwell. She encouraged Osborne to pursue an acting career.

## Career
### 1958–1965: Actor

Osborne began his show business career working as a contract actor for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's Desilu Studios. Osborne became part of Lucille Ball's Desilu Workshop.
Osborne appeared in a 1959 episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse called "Chain of Command", starring Hugh O'Brian. He was featured in the Desilu Playhouse installment "The Desilu Revue" in 1959. He had roles in television shows The Californians and the pilot episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. Ball encouraged Osborne to become a journalist, telling him: "What you should do is write [...] You love to do research. You love old films. Nobody is writing about films. We have enough actors, but we don't have enough writers."

### 1965–2013: Author and columnist

In 1965, Osborne published his first book, Academy Awards Illustrated with a foreword by Bette Davis. Osborne began working as a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter in 1977. In 1978, he published 50 Golden Years of Oscar, which won the 1979 National Film Book award. He served as president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association from 1981 to 1983. Osborne worked as the entertainment reporter on KTTV in Los Angeles from 1982 until 1987. He published the Rambling Reporter column for The Hollywood Reporter from 1982 to 2009.
In 1985, Osborne began a relationship with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), when he hosted a tribute to Shirley Temple at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills. In 1988, AMPAS commissioned him to write 60 Years of the Oscar. He wrote five updates to the volume, the latest being 85 Years of the Oscar published in 2013.

### 1984–1993: The Movie Channel

From 1984 to 1993, Osborne hosted for The Movie Channel. When his contract with the Movie Channel was to expire, Osborne lunched with actress Dorothy Lamour and then-American Movie Classics (AMC) television executives Brad Siegel and Jim Wise where they offered him the daytime afternoon hosting position, but his hiring was blocked by a management turf war. At the time, Bob Dorian was AMC's primetime host. In a 2009 interview, Dorian recalled he had never met Osborne, but nevertheless stated: "The major difference between us is that Osborne is a film historian. I'm hardly that. What I am is an actor and a fan. I love good films (and a lot of bad ones), and I know a lot of great stories."

### 1994–2016: Turner Classic Movies

In 1993, Siegel was hired as president of Turner Entertainment Networks. In June of the same year, Ted Turner announced the formation of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) at a Detroit company meeting. The channel was intended to emulate AMC and the Movie Channel, with its film library of the pre-May 1986 MGM releases, as well as the pre-1948 Warner Bros. and pre-1957 RKO films. Osborne was Siegel's first choice to serve as the host of its nightly primetime broadcasts.
Turner launched the channel on April 14, 1994 with Osborne presenting a three-minute introduction, explaining the channel's mission statement. Chuck Workman's 1994 documentary short 100 Years at the Movies was followed by Osborne's first on-air introduction for Gone with the Wind (1939). Osborne also hosted the series Private Screenings, featuring interviews with actors and directors. In 2006, Osborne began co-hosting The Essentials with Molly Haskell (2006 to 2007), Carrie Fisher (2007 to 2008), Rose McGowan (2008 to 2009), Alec Baldwin (2009 to 2011), Drew Barrymore and Sally Field. By 2006, Osborne reportedly taped 130 wraparound segments a week.
From 2005 to 2010, Osborne hosted the annual "Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival," a nonprofit festival hosted by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Meanwhile, in 2006, he was selected to be the Academy's official red carpet greeter, inheriting the position from Variety columnist Army Archerd. In 2010, Osborne began hosting the TCM Classic Film Festival, with his last appearance occurring in 2014.
Osborne continued to appear on Saturday nights, hosting The Essentials with Alec Baldwin. By 2013, Osborne began to delegate primetime hosting duties with Ben Mankiewicz. Mankiewicz hosted primetime films two nights a week, as well as many daytime events. Osborne stated that he would continue to work "as long as I have health, and as long as I think I look O.K. on camera." He also said, "If I really couldn't do it with enthusiasm, that would be the time to quit."
In 2013, Osborne presented the Honorary Academy Award to Dame Angela Lansbury at the Fifth Governors Awards. Osborne introduced Lansbury by saying he thought it was "one of the best decisions the Academy has ever made". In Lansbury's acceptance speech, she made it known that she chose Osborne to present the Oscar to her, stating, "the one person who really knew about my early work was Robert Osborne". She also thanked Osborne and TCM, saying, "Thanks to Turner Classic Movies and Robert, those great films are shown and studied and discussed by students everywhere, as well as seen by a huge general audience, so thank you TCM and thank you Robert for keeping me alive all these years."
In 2014, as part of an exclusive programming deal with Disney, TCM agreed to become the sponsor of The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The attraction underwent a refurbishment in 2015, with the addition of a new pre-show and post-show hosted by Osborne, who also provided onboard narration for the ride. The changes were unveiled on May 29, 2015, and lasted until the attraction's closure on August 13, 2017.

## Death

Osborne retired in early 2016 due to ill health and missed a number of TCM annual events over the next year. He died from natural causes at his New York City apartment in The Osborne on West 57th Street on March 6, 2017, at the age of 84.
Reactions to his death included tributes from many in the entertainment industry. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a statement saying, "The affection he had for the Oscars and the Academy was wholeheartedly reciprocated, and we are grateful for his friendship and indelible contribution to film history and our community." Others in the industry who mourned Osborne included Alec Baldwin, Eva Marie Saint, Liza Minnelli, Cher, Larry King, Leonard Maltin, Patricia Arquette, Bryan Cranston, and Patton Oswalt.
On the day of Osborne's death, The Hollywood Reporter published a statement by Angela Lansbury: "He was also the ultimate fan — and the ultimate friend — and our friendship will endure in my memory always".

## Personal life

Osborne lived in New York City in the 1980s. He was in a 20-year relationship with David Staller, a New York City theater producer and director.

## Favorite films

In an interview in 2009, with the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Osborne stated his favorite films included:
* A Place in the Sun (1951)
* All About Eve (1950)
* The Third Man (1949)
* Sunset Boulevard (1950)
* Singin' in the Rain (1952)
* Rebecca (1940)
* Random Harvest (1942)
* Red River (1948)
* Stagecoach (1939)
* The Razor's Edge (1946)
* This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
In 2012, Osborne selected The Big Clock (1948), Dodsworth (1936), Hobson's Choice (1954), Indiscreet (1958), The Mating Season (1951), The Tall Target (1951), My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), Remember the Night (1940), Roughly Speaking (1945), and Vacation from Marriage (1945) as his "secret favorite movies".

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1961 | Twenty Plus Two | Sailor with Dance Tickets | Uncredited |
| 1967 | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Junior Executive | Uncredited |
| 1977 | AFI Tribute to Bette Davis | Self | Television Special |
| 1978 | Dinah! | Self | 2 episodes |
| 1980 | The Man with Bogart's Face | Reporter No. 4 | |
| 1996–2014 | Private Screenings | Host | 28 episodes, TCM |
| 2005–2016 | Guest Programmer | Host | 145 episodes, TCM |
| 2006–2012 | The Essentials | Host | 105 Episodes, TCM |
| 2005 | Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law | Himself | Episode: "Turner Classic Birdman" |
| 2015 | Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt | Himself | Episode: "Kimmy's in a Love Triangle!" |

## Accolades

Osborne won the 1984 Publicists Guild of America Press Award. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Art University in 2005, and was awarded a star at Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. In 2007, he received the National Board of Review's William K. Everson Award.
In January 2016, Osborne was given the inaugural William Cameron Menzies Award from the Art Directors Guild, recognizing his 35 years as a film historian, columnist, and critic championing visual entertainment.
In 2018, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences included Osborne in their "In Memoriam" montage during the 90th Academy Awards telecast.

## The Robert Osborne Award

In 2018, TCM inaugurated the Robert Osborne Award, to be presented at their annual Classic Film Festival "to an individual whose work has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic films alive and thriving for generations to come." The inaugural recipient was film director Martin Scorsese for his work with The Film Foundation, which he co-founded in 1990.
The honorees have included:
* 2018: Martin Scorsese
* 2019: Kevin Brownlow
* 2022: Leonard Maltin
* 2023: Donald Bogle
* 2024: Jeanine Basinger
* 2025: George Stevens Jr.

## The Robert Osborne Collection

In 2021, the American Film Institute launched the Robert Osborne Collection. The online collection features a variety of Osborne's famous film introductions on AFI.com.

## In popular culture

Osborne made several cameo appearances as himself including on the Adult Swim animated series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law where he introduced the 2005 episode "Turner Classic Birdman". Osborne also made a cameo appearance in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode "Kimmy's in a Love Triangle!" introducing the fictional 1938 film "Daddy's Boy!" on Turner Classic Movies.
Osborne was also spoofed on Saturday Night Live with Darrell Hammond portraying him in 2006. Jason Sudeikis portrayed him in recurring sketches from 2010 to 2012.