Bob Osborne

In March 2018, Turner Classic Movies announced the establishment of the Robert Osborne Award, to be presented at the annual TCM 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 Scorsese helped found in 1990.

In 2018, the TCM Film Festival created the Robert Osborne Award.

Osborne retired from the air in early 2016 due to ill-health and missed a number of TCM annual events over the next year. Osborne died at his New York City apartment in the Osborne on West 57th Street on March 6, 2017, from natural causes at the age of 84. Osborne had been in a relationship for the past 20 years with David Staller, a New York City theater producer and director. Staller was the one who confirmed Osborne’s death to the Los Angeles Times.

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 2014, as part of an exclusive programming deal with Disney, TCM agreed to become the sponsor of The Great Movie Ride. The attraction underwent a refurbishment in 2015, with the addition of a new pre-show and post-show hosted by Osborne, who also provides onboard narration to the ride. The changes were unveiled on May 29, 2015.

Dame Angela Lansbury wrote a lengthy piece about her friendship with Osborne in The Hollywood Reporter, stating "He was also the ultimate fan — and the ultimate friend — and our friendship will endure in my memory always".

In 2013, Osborne presented the Honorary Academy Award to Dame Angela Lansbury at the 5th 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 Turner Classic Movies 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 2011, Osborne became ill and TCM announced that Osborne would be taking "a short break from his TCM hosting duties for minor surgery, followed by a vacation." Osborne continued to appear on Saturday nights, hosting "The Essentials" with Alec Baldwin. In 2012, Osborne began to share some of his 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 an interview in 2009, with the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Osborne stated his favorite films included:

Osborne also participated in events at the Paley Center for Media in New York City saluting the television careers of Lucille Ball and Cloris Leachman. Beginning in 2005, Osborne hosted the annual "Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival" in Athens, Georgia. The non-profit event is held by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2010, Osborne hosted the very first TCM Classic Film Festival, and participated in subsequent annual festivals.

In 1994, Ted Turner created Turner Classic Movies as a competitor to American Movie Classics (now known as AMC). Osborne was selected as the host of their nightly broadcasts. For TCM, in addition to hosting four primetime movies seven days a week, he was also the host of special one-on-one "Private Screening" interviews featuring many familiar actors and directors. Beginning in 2006, Osborne also co-hosted TCM's The Essentials. His co-hosts were Molly Haskell from 2006 to 2007, Carrie Fisher from 2007 to 2008, Rose McGowan from 2008 to 2009, Alec Baldwin from 2009 to 2011, Drew Barrymore and finally Sally Field.

In 1993, Osborne was in a television commercial for The Psychic Network.

Osborne also mentioned modern films he loves such as Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993), and The Departed (2006), as well as Christopher Guest's Best in Show (2000).

In 1984, Osborne began hosting for The Movie Channel, as well as winning the Publicists Guild of America 1984 Press Award. The following year, he 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 later wrote five updates to the volume, the latest being 85 Years of the Oscar in 2013.

Osborne won the Publicists Guild of America 1984 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.

Osborne had moved to New York City in the late 1980s. During his lifetime, few details of his personal life were reported, but upon his death it was confirmed that he had been in a 20-year relationship with David Staller of Gingold Theatrical Group; it was Staller who confirmed Osborne's death to the media.

In 1977, Osborne began his long-standing stint as a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. The following year, he published 50 Golden Years of Oscar, which won the 1979 National Film Book award. Having joined the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, he was elected its president in 1981, and served as such till 1983. In 1982, Osborne began a five-year stint as the entertainment reporter on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles. In addition, he began his Rambling Reporter column for The Hollywood Reporter, published five times weekly.

Ball suggested that Osborne focus his energies on becoming a journalist, as he would often quip, "especially after she saw me act". After The Beverly Hillbillies, Osborne would focus more on writing and journalism. In 1965, Osborne had his first book published, Academy Awards Illustrated.

One of Osborne's early television appearances was in a 1959 episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse called "Chain of Command", starring Hugh O'Brian. He was also featured in the Christmas Day Desilu Playhouse installment "The Desilu Revue" in December 1959. He also had small roles in such TV shows as The Californians and the 1962 pilot episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, "The Clampetts Strike Oil" (in the role of Jeff Taylor). He refrained from signing on for the series, however, thinking the show would not be a success, and instead focused his attention on acting in television commercials.

Robert Jolin Osborne (/ˈ ɒ z b ɔːr n / ; May 3, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American actor, film historian, television presenter, and author, best known for more than twenty years as the primary host of the cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Prior to TCM, Osborne had been a host on The Movie Channel, and, earlier, a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. Osborne also wrote the official history of the Academy Awards, originally published in 1988, and most recently revised in 2013.

Osborne was born on May 3, 1932, in the small town of Colfax, Washington, where he was raised. His parents were Robert Eugene Osborne, a public school teacher, and Hazel Ida (née Jolin). His older sister was Joan Osborne Beck. He had three nieces. Osborne graduated from the University of Washington School of Journalism in 1954.