- Army Archerd
Armand "Army" Archerd (b.
January 13 ,1922 inBronx , NY) was agossip columnist for "Variety" for over fifty years before retiring his "Just for Variety" column in September 2005. In November 2005 Archerd began blogging for "Variety" and he is currently at work on his memoirs. In 1984, he was given a star on theHollywood's Walk of Fame , in front of Mann's Chinese Theater, where he has emceed dozens of movie premieres.Archerd graduated from UCLA in 1941 and was hired by "Variety" to replace columnist
Sheilah Graham (former girlfriend ofF. Scott Fitzgerald ) in 1953. His Just for Variety column appeared on page two of "Daily Variety" and it swiftly became a must-read within Hollywood. Archerd has broken countless exclusive stories, reporting from film sets, announcing pending deals, giving news of who's in the hospital, who's just been married and who's given birth.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 . Global media picked up on the story; though the disease was not new, this was the first time anyone linked an identifiable face to the disease.Fact|date=September 2008The
New York Times stated that if it was not for Archerd's report, the actor's death probably would have been attributed to other maladies, and the realization of the scope of AIDS would not have been publicized and realized until November, 1991, whenMagic Johnson revealed his condition.Fact|date=September 2008Archerd, a
Jewish American , is also a strong proponent of theSimon Wiesenthal Center andHolocaust awareness; he frequently railed againstElia Kazan 's special Academy Award for the 1998 ceremonies and has often written critically of theNational Rifle Association .Fact|date=September 2008He is married to actress Selma Archerd, and currently lives in
Westwood, California .External links
* [http://www.armyarcherd.com Army Archerd's blog]
* [http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=columns_top5&categoryid=2&cs=1 Catalogue of "Just for Variety" columns written for "Variety"]
*imdb name|id=0033746|name=Army Archerd
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