Elaine Woo

writer

Elaine Woo is a Los Angeles native who has written for her hometown paper since 1983. She covered public education and filled a variety of editing assignments before joining “the dead beat” – news obituaries – where she has produced artful pieces on celebrated local, national and international figures, including Norman Mailer, Julia Child and Rosa Parks. She left The Times in 2015.

Latest From This Author

Obituaries

Valerie Harper, ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’s’ self-deprecating and loyal Rhoda, dies at 80

Obituaries

Valerie Harper, ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’s’ self-deprecating and loyal Rhoda, dies at 80

Harper’s Rhoda was everybody’s best friend in the 1970s, the gal pal many faithful fans of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” wished they had.
Obituaries

Gloria Vanderbilt, heiress, socialite and fashion entrepreneur, dies at 95

Obituaries

Gloria Vanderbilt, heiress, socialite and fashion entrepreneur, dies at 95

Gloria Vanderbilt experienced both loss and triumph on a grand scale.
Opinion

Op-Ed: What would my immigrant dad make of the mess America is in?

Opinion

Op-Ed: What would my immigrant dad make of the mess America is in?

My father’s gravestone is lined on three sides with Chinese characters, most of which I, as an ABC (American-born Chinese), cannot read.
California

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who shook up American morality with an ideal of swinging singlehood, dies at 91

California

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who shook up American morality with an ideal of swinging singlehood, dies at 91

Hugh Hefner, the incurable playboy who built a publishing and entertainment empire on the idea that Americans should shed their puritanical hang-ups and enjoy sex, has died.
Books

Lillian Ross, celebrated New Yorker writer, dies at 99

Books

Lillian Ross, celebrated New Yorker writer, dies at 99

Lillian Ross, a celebrated New Yorker magazine writer who created classics of literary journalism, including novel-length pieces on Ernest Hemingway and the making of a Hollywood movie, has died.
Obituaries

Stuart Timmons, author of ‘Gay L.A.’ and noted LGBT historian, dies at 60

Obituaries

Stuart Timmons, author of ‘Gay L.A.’ and noted LGBT historian, dies at 60

Stuart Timmons, a journalist, activist and authority on the role of gays and lesbians in Los Angeles history, has died.
California

Tyrus Wong, artist whose paintings inspired Disney’s ‘Bambi’ and other films, dies at 106

California

Tyrus Wong, artist whose paintings inspired Disney’s ‘Bambi’ and other films, dies at 106

In the late 1930s, when few doors were open to the son of a poor Chinese immigrant, Tyrus Wong landed a job at Walt Disney’s studio as a lowly “in-betweener,” whose artwork filled the gaps between the animator’s key drawings.
Obituaries

Stanley Sheinbaum, L.A. liberal lion who shaped decades of political dialogue, dead at 96

Obituaries

Stanley Sheinbaum, L.A. liberal lion who shaped decades of political dialogue, dead at 96

For more than four decades, Stanley Sheinbaum regularly gathered moguls, presidents, celebrities and activists in his Brentwood living room to sip wine and debate the issues of the day.
Obituaries

Nancy Reagan dies in Los Angeles at 94: Former first lady was President Reagan’s closest advisor

Obituaries

Nancy Reagan dies in Los Angeles at 94: Former first lady was President Reagan’s closest advisor

Former First Lady Nancy Davis Reagan, whose devotion to her husband made her a formidable behind-the-scenes player in his administrations and one of the most influential presidential wives in modern times, died Sunday of congestive heart failure, her office said.
Obituaries

Harper Lee, author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ dies at 89

Obituaries

Harper Lee, author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ dies at 89

The novelist whose 1960 masterpiece ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ brought her the Pulitzer Prize and a venerated place in American literature has died, officials in her hometown of Monroeville, Ala., say.