Bill Stout

William Job Stout (September 4, 1927 – December 1, 1989) was an American journalist and occasional actor, known for his radio and television broadcasting career with CBS News.

Stout advocated racial justice in a college newspaper editorial, and, in 1946, he represented UCLA in Prague at the founding meeting of the International Union of Students.

Career

Newspaper Stout left UCLA in June 1947 at the age of 19 and obtained work at the rival paper, The Minneapolis Times, alongside freshman reporter Harry Reasoner who would later attain fame as a television commentator. Stout continued at the Times, later shifting to work for the Associated Press news agency. He married Helen Larson in 1949 and they moved to Los Angeles in 1950 with her son Craig, who he later adopted.

Broadcasting Stout's first broadcast journalist work was for CBS-owned KNX (AM) radio in Los Angeles, working as a reporter starting in 1950. In 1953, he moved to the affiliated television station KNXT, taking the roles of reporter, researcher and writer. KNXT broadcast on channel 2, and Stout worked for the channel's investigative news show Special Assignment.

In 1960, Stout left CBS for three years to work for rival KTLA inside an old Warner Bros. sound stage, under the same roof as Paramount Pictures. Stout was dismissive of newscasters chosen for their attractive appearance. Dymally had been leading by six points in polls, but this unanswerable accusation ruined his chances. The rumor was later traced to Bob Fairbanks, a political reporter from the Los Angeles Times who was hostile to Dymally. Fairbanks had inquired of the California Attorney General's office about a rumored indictment of Dymally, and the deputy attorney general Michael Franchetti wrote a memo about the rumor inquiry. A version of the memo with the rumor part erased was given to Curb's office where Stout's wife Margaret worked. Margaret passed the memo to Stout and he read it aloud on the radio as if it were fact. Dymally heard the broadcast and immediately ceased campaigning, knowing his bid was shattered. ), Police Chief Daryl Gates said that Stout was "one of the few remaining real reporters in the city".

He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

Filmography