Wayne Philip Warga (January 26, 1938 – April 27, 1994) was an American author, journalist, and

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

who wrote largely about entertainment and penned several novels. Warga was a foreign correspondent for

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

magazine, covering hotspots from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, was assistant editor of the "Calendar" section of

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

in the 1970s, wrote for the television program USA Today: The Television Show, and was the

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits. In fictional comedy o ...

for

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

/Entertainment This Week. He later turned to books, writing both non-fiction and fiction. His nonfiction works included "Return to Earth" (1973) with astronaut

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

that was later made into a movie and "Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister" (1984) with actress

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

's sister

Lana Wood Lana Wood (born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin; March 1, 1946) is an American actress and producer. She made her film debut in ''The Searchers'' as a child actress and later achieved notability for playing Sandy Webber on the TV series '' Peyton Place'' a ...

. Warga also wrote three mysteries: “Hardcover” (1986), for which he earned a

Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one si ...

, “Fatal Impressions" (1989), and "Singapore Transfer" (1991).

Personal life

Warga was born to Wayne Arlington Warga, a studio employee, and Alma Joyce Warga Kelsey (Smith), a homemaker. Warga married Carol Reese, an artist and editor, on November 27, 1965, and was the father of writer, lecturer, and radio producer, Jake Warga. Warga was a collector of contemporary art and an avid fan of flying.

Illness and death

In 1990, Warga fell ill from a contaminated batch of

L-tryptophan Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an Alpha_and_beta_carbon , α-amino group, an α-carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with ...

manufactured by a Japanese company and distributed in the United States and eventually died after prolonged battle with cancer and several rounds of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

Award

for Best First P. I. Novel, "Hardcover" (1986)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warga, Wayne 1938 births University of Southern California alumni 1994 deaths 20th-century American male writers American male journalists Journalists from California Deaths from cancer in California Writers from Los Angeles American mystery novelists Shamus Award winners Life (magazine) photojournalists