Hank Grant, Entertainment Columnist, Newsman, Dies

Hank Grant, a veteran columnist for the Hollywood Reporter and entertainment editor for KNX-AM Newsradio, has died in Sherman Oaks. He was 77.

Grant wrote the “Rambling Reporter” and “Off the Cuff” columns during his 30 years at the Hollywood Reporter.

His daily broadcasts on KNX, which later aired on Saturdays and Sundays, consisted mainly of entertainment news.

His last broadcast was 2 1/2 months ago.

A 40-year resident of North Hollywood, Grant died Thursday of cancer, said a family spokesman, Charles Moses.

He was born Henry Galante on Dec. 1, 1912, in New York City.

He came to Los Angeles as a teen-ager and worked as a staff singer for KHJ Radio before becoming a nightclub singer, performing at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles and clubs in Las Vegas.

He then began emceeing radio shows for CBS and NBC in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

On the air and in print, he used the name Hank Grant.

He later moved to Chicago, where he was the host of two top radio shows, “Let’s Have Fun” and “Teens and Tunes Club,” for five years during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

He then returned to Los Angeles and worked for the Hollywood Reporter from 1956 to 1986.

In August, 1965, he joined KNX Newsradio as entertainment editor.

Grant won “Columnist of the Year” from the Film Welfare League in 1981, a Certificate of Excellence for Best Entertainment News from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club in 1983 and the Publicists Guild’s Press Award in 1985.

The following year, the Southern California Motion Picture Council presented its Golden Halo Award to Grant for his work with KNX.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Lucille (Billie) Galante of North Hollywood; sons William Galante of Los Altos Hills, Calif., and James Galante of North Hollywood; sisters Marie Galante and Anna Galante of Sherman Oaks and Grace Galante of North Fork, Calif., and two granddaughters.

A private service is planned, with arrangements made by J. T. Oswald Mortuary in North Hollywood.

Donations can be made in Grant’s name to the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills.