ट्रिविया

He was assigned to cover Senator Robert F. Kennedy on the night of the 1968 California presidential primary. Soon after declaring victory, Kennedy was shot to death in the kitchen of Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel. Thomas was waiting in the press room when he heard what sounded like balloons popping in the hotel kitchen. He ran into the kitchen and saw Kennedy lying on the floor, his head bloody. He ran to a phone and delivered the bulletin to the Associated Press.

Attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Biographer and reporter.

In junior high school and high school, he wrote entertainment columns for the student newspaper. He joined the Associated Press in Los Angeles in 1943, hoping to become a war correspondent. Instead, the wire service assigned him to Fresno, California. He returned to the AP's L.A. bureau in 1944, and became its entertainment reporter.

He became the first reporter-author to be awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6841 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 1, 1988.

He was a longtime Associated Press writer and dean of Hollywood reporters who covered a record 66 Oscar ceremonies. He interviewed most of the major Hollywood stars during his long career.

As of 2014, he was twice listed in the Guinness World Records, for the longest career as a reporter, and for the most consecutive Academy Award shows covered by an entertainment reporter.

In 2009, in recognition of over 60 years of covering the entertainment business for the Associated Press, the Publicists Guild awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award.