Robert Osborne

Birthday: 3 May 1932, Colfax, Washington, USA

Birth Name: Robert Jolin Osborne

Height: 185 cm

Robert Osborne was the host on Turner Classic Movies from its inception in 1994, in large part due to his deep and abiding love and knowledge of film. Osborne got his start working for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The ever-perspicacious Ball suggested that Osborne combine his interest in classic film and training in journalism, and write instead of act. Osborne took this advice and produced "Academy Awards Illustrated" a book which then begat his years at The Hollywood Reporter. He also became the official historian of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. An elegant and unassuming man, Osborne combined a startling facility with movie names, dates, and facts with the gift to tell a good story and ability to be a gracious host. Show less «

[on the best performances of 2011] I thought The Iron Lady (2011), that she [Meryl Streep] was fabul...Show more »

[on the best performances of 2011] I thought The Iron Lady (2011), that she [Meryl Streep] was fabulous, but I didn't think the film was as good as I wanted it to be. But I thought she deserved to win. Show less «

Somebody, I think it was Pauline Kael, called Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) the worst Best ...Show more »

Somebody, I think it was Pauline Kael, called Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) the worst Best Picture, and you know, I'd like to slap her silly for that. It's very hard to judge, because it may look like a mistake to you today, judging from 2010 while watching it on TCM or whatever, but at the time it meant something totally different. In the case of Around the World in Eighty Days, that's a movie that truly has to be seen on a big screen, preferably in Todd-AO and all of that. Because when I saw that in those conditions, it was a fabulous movie. Show less «

[on Hedy Lamarr] No 1930s Meryl Streep, maybe, and I'm sure she never gave Bette Davis or Ingrid Ber...Show more »

[on Hedy Lamarr] No 1930s Meryl Streep, maybe, and I'm sure she never gave Bette Davis or Ingrid Bergman a sleepless night in the 1940s, although one critic in reviewing Hedy's performance in the film The Strange Woman (1946) did note that "Bette Davis couldn't have done it better." The problem for Hedy was always "that face," which consistently overshadowed the acting prowess and versatility she did possess. Show less «

[on Katharine Hepburn] When I was growing up, she was not that popular. It was Bette Davis.

[on Bette Davis] The biggest thing about Bette Davis was that she was nothing like the character Mar...Show more »

[on Bette Davis] The biggest thing about Bette Davis was that she was nothing like the character Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950). She was a homemaker, a very New England lady, a great friend, a cook, she liked other women. So she wasn't competitive with women. She could very easily sit in a living-room with a lot of people and she didn't have to be the center of attention. She liked going to parties, all that stuff. Show less «

[on Katharine Hepburn] "The problem with Kate," her father once said, "is that she never wants to go...Show more »

[on Katharine Hepburn] "The problem with Kate," her father once said, "is that she never wants to go anywhere unless she is going to be The Bride or The Corpse." He knew his daughter well. Show less «

Robert Osborne

Robert Osborne's FILMOGRAPHY

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