Army Archerd, 87; columnist was must-read in Hollywood

Mr. Archerd collapsed at home in Los Angeles on Monday and died Tuesday afternoon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said his wife, Selma. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare form of mesothelioma, she said, which doctors ascribed to his exposure to shipyard asbestos when he was in the Navy during World War II.

Over the years, as the relationship between entertainment journalists and movie stars became more balanced and even confrontational, Mr. Archerd remained a respected figure by generations of industry insiders who praised him for his integrity and kindness.

“Army was extraordinarily passionate about his work and was a great crusader - against the blacklist, for example,’’ said former Variety editor and studio chief Peter Bart, who first met Mr. Archerd when Bart, then a New York Times correspondent, was sent to cover Hollywood in 1961.

“He was a very honorable man and a damned good journalist.’’

Mr. Archerd, who retired from his “Just for Variety’’ column on Sept. 1, 2005, but returned soon after with a Variety blog, was also known as a journalist who never forgot which side of the red carpet he was on. In 1996, he told the Los Angeles Times, “I don’t burn out because I’m not part of the scene; I’m looking at the scene. I don’t get involved like some unnamed people who cover this business.’’

A native of the Bronx and graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, Mr. Archerd did befriend many Hollywood movers and shakers and was an institution in his own way.

He was perhaps best known for his televised job as official greeter each year outside the Academy Awards. When Daily Variety threw a charity bash at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to celebrate Mr. Archerd’s 40th anniversary in 1993, more than 1,000 people showed up. A-listers who lauded him included Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, and Sidney Poitier. The audience included Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Jack Nicholson, Anthony Hopkins, and Aaron Spelling. Even President Clinton taped a greeting to the columnist.

Dubbed in various profiles as “the town crier of Hollywood,’’ “a running intelligence report,’’ and “the town’s breeziest boulevardier,’’ Mr. Archerd wrote more than 10,000 columns, a three-dot compendium of news, observations, and occasional bombshells, sprinkled with the lingo peculiar to Variety, where films are “helmed’’ instead of “directed’’ and people “ankle’’ instead of “quit.’’

Mr. Archerd met just about everyone and interviewed everyone - Charlie Chaplin in the director’s chair, Humphrey Bogart on his deathbed, and Jon Peters in the hairstylist’s chair. Bart once bragged that Mr. Archerd had the numbers of the nurses on every floor of every important hospital.

On Oct 17, 1958, his lead item was about the world’s biggest sex symbol: “Marilyn Monroe, who is expecting, requested a grand piano be moved to her Bel-Air Hotel suite to save her going to the studio for rehearsal in her delicate condition. She was off work again Wednesday.’’ (Monroe suffered a miscarriage that December.) There was only one star he longed to interview but never did: Greta Garbo.

Mr. Archerd’s biggest scoop was published July 23, 1985, the announcement that Hudson was battling AIDS. The actor had never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality and became the first major Hollywood figure to be linked to the scourge.

“The whispering campaign on Rock Hudson can and should stop,’’ Mr. Archerd wrote. “He has flown to Paris for further help. . . . His illness was no secret to close Hollywood friends, but its true nature was divulged to very, very few. Doctors warn that the dread disease is going to reach catastrophic proportions in all communities if a cure is not soon found.’’

The story sent shock waves.

“It was a thunder strike,’’ said Bob Thomas, the Associated Press reporter who helped get Mr. Archerd his first reporting job in 1945.

For two days, Hudson’s representatives maintained that the actor had flown to Paris to be treated for liver cancer or unexplainable fatigue.

“Someone had anonymously mailed him [Mr. Archerd] a photocopy of the doctor’s records,’’ Selma Archerd told the Times in 1999. “And he’d had them for months, but it was so devastating to print it. It was so shocking - someone that you actually knew! But he waited until Rock was really out of it.

“The press agents tried to discredit Army. His [previous] editor said he might have to retract it,’’ Archerd recalled. “And Army said: ‘Please don’t do that to me. The story is right.’ And, of course, it proved to be right.’’

Hollywood people trusted Mr. Archerd to get their stories straight - and to be kind - and often would not speak to anyone but him. When Johnny Carson celebrated his 25th year with NBC in 1987, “The Tonight Show’’ host left a message for his publicist: “I’m not doing any interviews, because if I do one, I’ll have to do them all. But if Army calls, I’ll speak to him.’’

Although the tone of his column, written in workmanlike prose, tended to be mild - heavy on information, light on editorializing - Mr. Archerd was not afraid to leap into the fray when moved. He took on Charlton Heston numerous times on the issue of gun control. In 1995 and 1996 in at least five columns, Mr. Archerd, who was Jewish, slammed Michael Jackson for using anti-Semitic slurs in his song “They Don’t Care About Us.’’ Jackson called Mr. Archerd to apologize and to announce that he would be changing the lyrics.

In 1999, Mr. Archerd waded into the controversy surrounding the honorary Oscar that was presented to director Elia Kazan. In one piece, Mr. Archerd recounted the professional wreckage that followed Kazan’s 1952 appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where the director named names, and concluded: “I, for one, will not be giving him a standing ovation.’’

In addition to his wife, an actress whom he married in 1970, Mr. Archer leaves a son, Evan; stepsons Richard Rosenblum and James Rosenblum; and five grandchildren. His daughter, Mandy Falk, died last year at 58 after running a marathon.