Lloyd "Skip" Shearer (December 20, 1916 – May 27, 2001Wadler, Joyce.

" ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. May 27, 2001. Retrieved on August 5, 2014.) was an American celebrity gossip columnist. From 1958 to 1991, he wrote "

Walter Scott's Personality Parade "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" is a column in ''Parade (magazine), Parade'' magazine featuring celebrity gossip. As of 2001 Edward Klein is the author of the column, which is in the inside cover of the magazine.Woo, Elaine. "Lloyd Shearer; Lea ...

" in ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine. Cockburn, Alexander. "Why People Are Talking About Gossip." '' New York'' magazine. May 3, 1976. p
2
Retrieved on October 5, 2014. In this column he used the name Walter Scott, and discussed rumors about celebrities using a question-and-answer style. Shearer also wrote profiles of famous people under his real name.

Career

Shearer began writing in high school.Woo, Elaine. "Lloyd Shearer; Leader of the 'Personality Parade'" (Obituaries). ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. May 26, 2001. p
1
Retrieved on August 5, 2014. Also printed in:
Lloyd Shearer, Wrote `Personality Parade'
In: ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

''. May 28, 2001. He attended the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, and in 1936 he graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in the English language. His first job was for the '' Durham Sun'' in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. In 1941, Shearer was drafted into the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. When the military magazine '' Yank'' was established, Shearer joined the staff in New York City. Later, he was transferred to Los Angeles where he wrote for ''

Armed Forces Radio The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

'', as part of the Pacific Theater division. He also became a correspondent for ''

'' while still serving in the Army and after serving, until 1953. Then he became the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

correspondent of ''Parade'', then starting his "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" column in 1958. Shearer retired from writing the column in 1991, due to

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Life

Shearer was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on December 20, 1916. Shearer's parents had immigrated from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and his father worked as a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random Ho ...

. The neighborhood where Shearer was raised was described as "

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

". Shearer married fellow writer, Marva Peterson. They had three children:

Derek Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of '' Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name ar ...

, a former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, and twins Cody, and his sister Brooke. Lloyd Shearer died of a heart attack at his Los Angeles home on Thursday May 27, 2001. Shearer was mentioned in the 1942 best-selling book about a journalist's experiences in military service, '' See Here Private Hargrove.'' From that exposure Shearer was said to have "gained some notoriety".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shearer, Lloyd 1916 births 2001 deaths Writers from New York City American people of Austrian descent University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni