Esteemed Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne dies aged 84

Out gay Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne, died on Monday aged 84.

The esteemed host who was known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of film history, is survived by his partner of 20 years, David Staller.

According to his partner, a theatre director and producer, Osborne died of natural causes in his sleep.

Esteemed Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne dies aged 84

“It’s difficult to imagine a planet without him,” Staller said.

“He made the choice to call it a day, and he wants everyone to know that he’ll see them at the after party.”

Osborne had appeared on TCM since it launched in 1994, and was known for his knowledge of the films the network shows.

He’d normally share a load of information and inside trivia about the films about to be shown

The star would also share closing remarks at the end of every film.

Having worked as a columnist for the Hollywood Reporter, and as the official biographer of the Academy Awards, Osborne had written a series of books about the Oscars.

“For anyone who loves movies like I do, Turner Classic Movies will be like falling into paradise,” he said in 1994, when named the TCM host.

Although he lived in New York City since the late 80s, Osborne would regularly fly to Atlanta to shoot a series of opening and closing remarks for upcoming films.

He also acted as the host for the TCM Classic Film Festival.

Born in 1932 on 3 May in Colfax, Washington, Osborne found a whole other world at the movies.

“I’d see Clifton Webb and Gene Tierney in ‘Laura’ and Bette Davis in ‘All About Eve,’ and I’d think, ‘Those people are so much more interesting than what I’m living around in this town,” he said in a 2006 interview with the New York Times.

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He later studied journalism at the University of Washington and also spent two years in the US Air Force.

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