Marilyn Beck, whose Hollywood and TV columns ran in the Daily News from the late 1970s until 2010, died Saturday at her home in Oceanside, Calif., according to her longtime writing partner, Stacy Jenel Smith. She was 85.
Beck, whose career spanned the star system to the digital age, died after a three-year battle with lung cancer.
She was one of the last of the old-school, high-powered Hollywood-based newspaper columnists with some 500 papers, domestic and international, running her five days a week. That was in addition to her NBC “Marilyn Beck’s Hollywood Outtakes” specials, her long-running stints on television’s syndicated “PM Magazine” and E! Channel “Gossip Show,” her reports on L.A. radio station KFI, and her books.
Beck was never one to pull punches, especially when it came to asking celebrities anything — everything — whether it was quizzing Sylvester Stallone about leaving his wife or pushing Bob Hope to talk about his money.
She dearly loved the Hollywood beat, but at the same time, after decades of dealing with studios, publicists and stars, she once joked that she was going to become a rancher, “because if there’s one thing I know, it’s bull—-.”
Elvis Presley gave Beck his first interview after mustering out of the military. Dick Van Dyke chose Beck when he a decided to go public with his alcoholism. Lucille Ball disclosed her nearly debilitating health issues and Michael Landon revealed his battles with pill dependence.
Through the ’70s her influence grew, and the end of the decade saw her prominently featured in The News.
She is survived by her second husband, Arthur Levine, daughter Andee Beck Althoff and son-in-law Jim Althoff; son Mark and daughter-in-law Bonnie Saland; brother Mitchell Mohr; step-children Patty and Michael Levine; granddaughter Jeorgea Beck and grandsons Zeke Beck and Harry Althoff and Daniel Althoff.
