Former Hollywood Reporter publisher Robert Dowling dies at 83

Little on Robert Dowling’s early resume screamed Hollywood power broker.

The New York native had worked as a trade publication editor and publisher for American Druggist, High-Tech Marketing, Menswear and Sports Marketing News. He’d also developed a knack for revitalizing underperformers, which was the very definition of the Hollywood Reporter in 1988. Lagging far behind entertainment industry trade news leader Daily Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, founded in 1930, was losing about a $1 million a year when Dowling was offered the job as president.

“He didn’t know anything about the industry or anybody. But he jumped at the opportunity — he’d always been a huge fan of entertainment,” his son Michael Dowling told The Times. “Working in publishing in New York in those days, he saw that the entertainment industry was evolving to become more of a business.”

Dowling died Friday at his home in Santa Monica after a short battle with cancer, his son said.

The respected former publisher was 83.

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After Dowling moved his family to Los Angeles from Westport, Conn., for the job in September 1988, he plunged into his new role with a listening tour and quickly got up to speed. He led the Hollywood Reporter for nearly two decades, including 14 years as publisher and editor in chief, helping to shape the five-day-a-week trade paper into a profitable and formidable competitor to Variety and other publications that cover entertainment.

He boosted the paper with special editions and events, such as the annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, the Key Art Awards program (now known as the Clio Awards), a Next Generation initiative and by launching THR East, a PDF edition for East Coast readers. One of Dowling’s proudest achievements was forging an online presence with the 1995 launch of THR.com — a few years before Variety took the digital leap.

The website remains a must-read in the industry.

Dowling’s tenure spanned a time when reader interest for entertainment news was surging, while studio publicists increasingly tried to control news and publicity about their stars, films and top executives.

Dowling was sensitive to their concerns. He once killed a proposed story on “The 100 Worst Movies of All Time,” a move that some former employees alleged was prompted by complaints by studios, which provided advertising revenue. Dowling acknowledged in an interview with The Times that he did kill the story but said it was for philosophical, not economic, reasons.

In a 2001 flap, three prominent journalists quit after Dowling pulled a reporter off an investigative story about the paper’s party columnist, who allegedly had accepted favors from movie studios.

Dowling felt the matter was “best handled by human resources,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Times reported in 2001 that THR eventually published a short story, citing a Screen Actors Guild investigation into the columnist’s ethics. The Hollywood Reporter also noted instances in which Dowling backed his reporters despite pressure from agencies and studios to kill certain stories.

“He once told me that news in the entertainment industry, any industry, was the ante in the game,” Michael Dowling said. “He came to the conclusion that what was going to attract readers, attract staff and attract advertisers would be respect. So everything he did was about building respect for the paper.”

Following an ownership change that brought a new corporate culture, Dowling left after THR was acquired by Dutch media giant VNU, which at the time owned Nielsen Media Research and Billboard magazine. VNU wanted its U.S.-based executives located in New York but Dowling recognized that wouldn’t work.

Dowling told The Times in 2005 that leaving was bittersweet.

“I didn’t hear a standing ovation for me walking out the door,” he said. “But I think they’re disappointed.”

His successor lasted less than a year in the job.

Born on New York’s Long Island on Sept. 16, 1939, his early years were tumultuous.

Dowling’s mother gave him up at birth and he spent his early years in a series of foster homes before being adopted. He would later say the experience helped him develop a capacity to instinctively recognize motivations and assess situations.

“That sense of abandonment really drove him,” his son said. “He said to me that when he’d go into these foster homes, he had to figure out the environment around him quickly. He never wanted to do anything that would upset the balance, or draw too much attention to himself, [out of concern] he might get abandoned again.”

In 1965, Dowling met the love of his life, Juanita Rich, and they married. Together they raised three sons.

Beyond his family, Dowling loved covering the entertainment industry.

“He was moved by the music and he cared about the full production of a movie — not just the stars or the above-the-line talent,” Michael Dowling said. “He loved the crafts, he loved the arts. He was so appreciative of the skills and talents that people brought to their jobs.”

Dowling is survived by his wife of 56 years, Juanita, their children and their spouses: Rob (Diane) Dowling, Michael (Gia) Dowling and Matthew (Anna) Dowling; his seven grandchildren, PJ, Larissa, Lena, Devan, Ella, Miles and Radley; and his dog, K.C.