Lloyd "Skip" Shearer (December 20, 1916 – May 27, 2001[1]) was an American celebrity gossip columnist. From 1958 to 1991, he wrote "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" in Parade magazine.[2] In this column he used the name Walter Scott, and discussed rumors about celebrities using a question-and-answer style.[1] Shearer also wrote profiles of famous people under his real name.[1]
Shearer began writing in high school.[3] He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,[1] and in 1936 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in the English language.[3] His first job was for the Durham Sun in North Carolina.[3] In 1941, Shearer was drafted into the Army.[1] When the military magazine Yank was established, Shearer joined the staff in New York City.[1] [3] Later, he was transferred to Los Angeles where he wrote for Armed Forces Radio, as part of the Pacific Theater division. He also became a correspondent for The New York Times while still serving in the Army and after serving, until 1953.[3] Then he became the West Coast correspondent of Parade, then starting his "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" column in 1958.[1] Shearer retired from writing the column in 1991, due to Parkinson's disease.[3]
Shearer was born in New York City on December 20, 1916.[1] Shearer's parents had immigrated from Austria, and his father worked as a typesetter. The neighborhood where Shearer was raised was described as "working class".[3]
Shearer married fellow writer, Marva Peterson. They had three children: Derek, a former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, and twins Cody and Brooke. Lloyd Shearer died of a heart attack at his Los Angeles home on Thursday May 27, 2001.[1]
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".[3]