Rona Barrett

Rona Barrett

Rona Barrett (born October 8, 1936) is an American gossip columnist and businesswoman. She currently runs the Rona Barrett Lavender Company in Santa Ynez, California.

Early life

Born to a Jewish family in New York, New York, Barrett was diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy at age 9. When she was 13, she became the nationwide coordinator of singer Eddie Fisher's fan clubs. Her date for the high school prom was singer Steve Lawrence. She majored in pre-law at college, until her uncle, a judge, advised her to switch to journalism.

Career and personal life

Barrett became a gossip columnist for the Bell-McClure newspaper syndicate in 1957. In 1966, she began broadcasting Hollywood gossip on the Los Angeles television station KABC-TV. She appeared on TV regularly, going on to appear on ABC's five owned and operated stations around the country. However, not everyone was thrilled with the arrangement. WABC-TV in New York put her pre-recorded gossip segment into its nightly local news, but anchor Roger Grimsby would generally introduce it by making disparaging comments about her. Barrett made the enemies list of Frank Sinatra by criticizing his personal life, particularly his relationships with his children.

She developed the first in-depth personal TV specials about the celebrities of motion pictures, television, music, sports and politics, and had a series of magazines on the entertainment industry that were top-rated at newsstands, including "Rona Barrett's Hollywood". As such she paved the way for Barbara Walters and many entertainment reporters.

Barrett was first married to Bill Trowbridge; they were married on September 22, 1973 and remained so until his death on December 7, 2001. She recently married Daniel Busby on February 14, 2008.

In 1972, her novel titled "The Lovo-maniacs" was published. Her autobiography, "Miss Rona", was published in 1974. It memorably began: "Just an inch, Miss Rona, just let me put it in an inch!" as the hunky westerns actor Hugh O'Brian pleaded to be allowed to experience a modicum of sexual intercourse with her. In the book she also acknowledged having a nose job. She wrote two other books, "How You Can Look Rich and Achieve Sexual Ecstasy" (1978) and "The Man Who Will Be King, Unauthorized Biography of Prince Charles" (1980).

Barrett began appearing on "Good Morning America" in 1975. She was signed in 1980 to co-host NBC's "Tomorrow" with Tom Snyder, but a very public feud with Snyder resulted in her leaving the show the following year. In 1986, she bought a ranch at Santa Ynez, California, and began commuting back and forth to Los Angeles. In 1990, she made a guest appearance as an interviewer at WWE's WrestleMania VI at Skydome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, appearing in two segments. In the first, she interviewed Randy Savage's former valet (kayfabe), Miss Elizabeth. In the second segment, she was interviewed by the event's play-by-play announcer and color analyst, respectively, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. In 1991, she retired full time to her ranch, where she began planting fields of lavender.

Commercial ventures

Rona Barrett Lavender Company

Rona found marketing lavender flowers was not simple and decided to duplicate Paul Newman's methods from Newman's Own products. She founded the "Rona Barrett Lavender Company", in Santa Ynez, near Santa Barbara, in the Central Coast region of California, as a small producer of lavender bath, beauty, food and aromatherapy products. The company follows a model of using celebrity-branded consumer goods to generate funds and raise awareness of a non-profit cause. A portion of all company proceeds are donated to the Rona Barrett Foundation. According to the foundation's website, they have ceased selling lavender products.

Rona Barrett Foundation

Rona started "The Rona Barrett Foundation", a non-profit organization dedicated to the aid and support of senior citizens in need that is supported by a 2% portion of the profits from her lavender business.

External links

* [http://www.katejackson.net/rona.html Rona Barrett article "The Way They Were - Kate Jackson"]
*imdb name|id=0057270|name=Rona Barrett
* [http://www.missronaslavender.com Rona Barrett Lavender Company]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Barrett — (sometimes spelled Barret or Barratt) is a surname that has been associated with several different people, places and organisations.Barrett is a popular surname in south and west Ireland. It is most common in County Mayo and County Galway as well …   Wikipedia

  • List of stage names — This list of stage names lists performers alphabetically according to surname (assumed or genuine) and their nickname. Individuals who have dropped their last name and substituted their middle name as their last name are listed. Also listed are… …   Wikipedia

  • Moonlighting (TV series) — For the 2007–2008 TV series, see Moonlight (TV series). Moonlighting Format Comedy drama / Mystery / Romance Created by …   Wikipedia

  • Carol Nugent — Infobox Actor name = Carol Nugent caption = Carol Nugent, as she appeared on Perry Mason in 1959 birthname = Carol Lou Nugent birthdate = birth date and age|1937|07|07 birthplace = Los Angeles, California spouse = Nick Adams (1959 1968)Carol Lou… …   Wikipedia

  • Tom Snyder — Infobox Person name=Tom Snyder image size = caption = birth date = May 12 1936 birth place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin death date = death date and age|2007|7|29|1936|5|12 death place = San Francisco, CaliforniaTom Snyder (May 12, 1936 July 29, 2007)… …   Wikipedia

  • Sextette — Infobox Film name=Sextette director=Ken Hughes producer=Daniel Briggs Robert Sullivan Harry Weiss writer=Herbert Baker starring=Mae West released=3 March 1978 runtime=91 min distributor=Crown International country=USA language=English imdb… …   Wikipedia

  • Tomorrow (TV series) — infobox television show name = Tomorrow caption = format = Talk show rating = runtime = 60 / 90 minutes creator = starring = Tom Snyder Rona Barrett (1980 1981) country = USA num episodes = network = NBC first aired = October 15, 1973 last aired …   Wikipedia

  • Nom De Scène — Un nom de scène est un pseudonyme utilisé par les acteurs, comédiens, musiciens et autres célébrités. Sommaire : Haut A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nom artistique — Nom de scène Un nom de scène est un pseudonyme utilisé par les acteurs, comédiens, musiciens et autres célébrités. Sommaire : Haut A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nom de scene — Nom de scène Un nom de scène est un pseudonyme utilisé par les acteurs, comédiens, musiciens et autres célébrités. Sommaire : Haut A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”