RIP Charles Hillinger
roving
Obit: Charles Hillinger, the Los Angeles Times' retired roving feature writer and columnist who traversed the highways and byways of California, America and beyond in pursuit of colorful characters and human-interest stories, has died. He was 82.
...
As a Times reporter, Hillinger had his share of interesting assignments.
He covered the Beatles during their visit to Los Angeles in 1964 to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, providing a behind-the-scenes report on the "mop-haired Liverpudlians" as they relaxed in their Bel-Air hideaway, where they swam and played cowboys with toy pistols sent over by Elvis Presley.
He also was aboard the aircraft carrier Hornet in 1969 to report on the historic splash-down in the Pacific of the Apollo 11 mission-to-the-moon astronauts -- "back home from man's greatest adventure."
But it's for his stories about people from all walks of life -- and their sometimes unusual pursuits -- that Hillinger is best remembered.
He called them "slices of America" and they were, as former Times publisher Otis Chandler once put it, "a lively and refreshing contrast to the hard news stories of the day."
Posted by
ben on 04/30/08 at
09:38
|
Comments (4)
|
Trackbacks (0)
Comments
Re: RIP Charles Hillinger
Take Hillinger's 1968 encounter with Clint Wescott, a grizzled homeless man in downtown Los Angeles who lived at the base of a Bunker Hill cliff.
After Hillinger's story ran, a lawyer in Burnt Hill, N.Y., contacted him to say he had been searching for Wescott for seven years and had nearly $20,000 in two bank accounts that belonged to him.
Wescott, however, wanted nothing to do with the unexpected windfall -- even though he had only 44 cents in his pocket.
"Hand me a dollar. I'll take it and buy a little drink, a little smoke," he told Hillinger in a follow-up story. "But I don't want a huge wad of money like that. . . . You know, all I want out of life is a loaf of bread, a pound of baloney, a hunk of cheese, good health. I've got all that here. I'm at peace with the world."
Posted by:
ben
at April 30,2008 09:40
Re: RIP Charles Hillinger
Oh, the irony: An obit on a feature writer written in a straightforward news style. How many of you Gangrey denizens would roll over in your grave if they put a stright lead/inverted pyramid on YOUR obit?
Posted by:
Greg Norman
at April 30,2008 11:44
Re: RIP Charles Hillinger
Well, I wouldn't choke.
Posted by:
Nick Faldo
at April 30,2008 18:26
Re: RIP Charles Hillinger
that really you, faldo?
Posted by:
ramsey
at April 30,2008 22:03
None
Post a comment
