&list_text=          In 1988, Bob Thomas was the first reporter/author to have his own star placed on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame.  Now, he is the first reporter/author to be honored by The Walt Disney Company for preserving the legacy of the greatest entertainer and visionary of the 20th Century.
          As a leading authority on Walt Disney, Bob was personally hired by Walt to write "The Art of Animation". Published in 1958, the book demystified the animation process by tracking production of the feature "Sleeping Beauty". Since then, Bob has written the official biographies of both Walt and Roy O. Disney - "Walt Disney: An American Original" and "Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire". He also penned a sequel to his original book "The Art of Animation", from Mickey Mouse to Hercules, as well as a children's book "Walt Disney: Magician of the Movies".
          As a young reporter, Bob had interviewed Walt on many occasions about his motion pictures and Walt respected the no-nonsense journalist. Bob later recalled the opening of the monorail at Disneyland in 1959 when "Walt was standing on the platform and said to me, 'Hey, I'd like to have you meet this guy.' He took me over and introduced me to Richard Nixon, who was vice president at the time. 'Dick,' he said, 'this is Bob Thomas, one of our better reporters.'" 
          Born January 26, 1922, in San Diego, California, Bob grew up on the fringe of limelight in Hollywood. His father, a newspaper editor turned motion picture publicist, served as inspiration and by 22, Bob became a Hollywood columnist.  
          With a career spanning nearly 60 years, the veteran Hollywood reporter has interviewed nearly every major figure in the film industry and covered the trends of entertainment from the 1950s through the 1990s. He's written countless articles for newspapers, magazines, and thirty-plus books on motion picture royalty, including Irving Thalberg and David O. Selznick while his biographies about Howard Hughes and Abbott and Costello were translated into television movies.
          Bob often appears on television in documentaries about Hollywood, as well, including "Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Myth," which premiered on ABC's "The Wonderful World of Disney" on September 16, 2001. In addition, he has written, produced and appeared in five television specials about the Academy Awards (having covered nearly 60 consecutive Oscar ceremonies) and has co-produced and narrated "Hollywood Stars," a weekly, syndicated TV show devoted to celebrity interviews and film clips.
          A dedicated journalist, Bob's career extended into the realm of politics when in 1968, he broke the news of the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. As a long-time and prolific reporter for the Associated Press, Bob Thomas's byline has been published more than any other writer in the 150-year history of the prestigious news agency.&