Bobby Rivers was born on September 20 1953 in Los Angeles. He was the oldest of three children, with a younger sister Betsy and a younger brother Tony. His parents were both fans of classic movies, and they encouraged a love of classic movies in him. Bobby was still a teenager when he made his first appearance on television. It was on The Movie Game, a daily syndicated game show on which contestants answered questions about movie trivia with the help of two celebrities. Bobby's teammates were comedian Phyllis Diller and Hugh O'Brien (then as now best known as Wyatt Earp on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp). Bobby was both the youngest contestant on The Movie Game and the show's first Black contestant. He won a Kimball spinet piano.
Bobby graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a degree in broadcasting. He began his career writing newscasts at radio station WRIT-FM in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He later had a morning show on Milwaukee radio station WQFM (now WLDB). Bobby moved from radio into television, becoming the film critic at ABC affiliate WISN-TV, the first Black film critic in Milwaukee. There he hosted and produced the local talk show More. He also reviewed movies for the syndicated news and entertainment show PM Magazine.
Bobby moved from Milwaukee to New York City where he went to work as an entertainment reporter for WPIX. Afterwards he became a veejay for VH1. On VH1 he was given his own show, Watch Bobby Rivers, on which he interviewed such celebrities as Mel Blanc, Michael Caine, Kirk Douglas, Sally Field, Mel Gibson, Paul McCartney, Marlo Thomas, and yet others. On VH1 he also hosted Sunday Brunch with Bobby Rivers. He moved from VH1 to WNBC, where he served as an entertainment reporter and part of the cast of Weekend Today. He also hosted the short-lived syndicated game show Bedroom Buddies, on which people who were married, engaged, or living together answered questions about their lives.
Bobby moved from WNBC to WNYW where he was an entertainment reporter and a host on Good Day New York. He later served as the entertainment editor on the ABC News/Lifetime weekday magazine Lifetime Live. He then hosted Top 5 on the Food Network and then served as the film critic and entertainment reporter on Whoopi Goldberg's radio show Wake Up with Whoopi. In the late Naughts he appeared as Professor Robert Haige on the In the Know segment of the Onion News Network video podcast.
Bobby did a little acting beyond his appearances on the Onion New Network. He appeared in The Equalizer episode "Making of a Martyr" in 1985. He also appeared in the movie Identity Crisis (1989) and two episodes of The Sopranos, as well as the short subject "Hello Korea Goodbye" (2006).
Since 2011 Bobby maintained his blog Bobby Rivers TV. He also wrote scripts for the intros and outros on Turner Classic Movies. As mentioned earlier, Bobby was one of the original participants in TCMParty, from its earliest years. His last tweet for TCMParty was on December 17 2023, only nine days before his death.
Bobby Rivers was a true pioneer. At the time he was reviewing movies on WISN in Milwaukee, Black film critics were virtually unknown. For that matter,openly gay television personalities were also virtually unknown. As the host of Watch Bobby Rivers he was one of the first African Americans to host his own show. Bobby paved the way for both Black people and members of the LGBTQ community on television. Of course, Bobby was also very good at what he did. He had an in-depth knowledge of film history and could offer insights into classic movies that others had never considered before. As an interviewer he was able to come up with questions that his subjects might never have been asked previously. Bobby was warm and friendly, and able to put his interview subjects at ease, getting them to open up to him in a way that they might not to someone else.
As might be expected, Bobby supported diversity, often addressing it on his blog. He wrote multiple times about Latino representation in the entertainment industry. He argued for the need for Black faces on Turner Classic Movies in those days before they hired Professor Jacqueline Stewart. He is one of the few bloggers I know who has written about the need for more representation of Native Americans in Hollywood. Bobby grew up during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and so he wanted to make sure the voices of all peoples were heard.
Beyond being a great film critic and celebrity interviewer, Bobby was simply a wonderful person. Bobby had faced both racism and homophobia throughout his life and career. His partner died from AIDS at a point when it was still a stigma. Bobby could easily have been bitter, but he never was. Instead, Bobby was warm and friendly and funny. And he was always supportive, wishing his friends success in whatever they did. He had a real love of classic movies and it was wonderful discussing them with him. He was both intelligent and insightful, and had a way of making one see any given movie in a new light. I remember a wonderful post he wrote on his blog about Black representation in Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
Bobby was an active part of TCMParty from its earliest days, and along with my dearest Vanessa Marquez and songbird Monica Lewis, he was one of the first celebrities to take part. As a result Bobby was friends with many TCM fans, myself included. I remember discussing Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Theresa Harris with him, of whom both Bobby and I were huge fans. I also remember Bobby and I telling another fan about how popular Nat King Cole was. Like many of my fellow TCMParty participants, I had many wonderful discussions with Bobby. Bobby was famous. He had interviewed Paul McCartney and had cocktails with Lucille Ball in her home, but as far as Bobby was concerned, he was simply one of us, another classic movie fan. Indeed, Bobby was the perfect gentleman. He was sweet, warm, supportive, intelligent, and insightful, and he possessed an impeccable wit and a great sense of humour. I know many of my fellow TCM fans are very sad at his passing. And I know that I will miss him very, very much.
No comments:
Post a Comment