The Desert Sun
November 29, 2015
GLORIA GREER died peacefully in her sleep at home on Oct.
30 with daughters Norma and Ann by her side, after a valiant and courageous
battle with esophageal cancer. Born in New York City she was the daughter of
Broadway producer-composer Anatol Friedland and Rosalind Schiff. Playmates
included Hal Price. Parents' friends included Ed Sullivan and Dolores and Bob
Hope. After her father's death Gloria and her mom moved west, where her Mother
re-married Emmy Nominated Director Lew Landers. Gloria attended Beverly Hills
High School and studied at UCLA. A natural athlete Gloria rode her first horse
at 5 years old, swam every day during the summer through 2014, and could do
cartwheels into her 60's. During high school, moxie Gloria joined Circle
Theater in Hollywood, and acted and wrote under the name Gloria Grant. She
wrote about what kids in Hollywood were doing, and then hosted her own teen TV
show on KHJ Channel 9. Gloria was the original "Trudy Bower" on the
Guiding Light radio show. Her journalism talent came naturally, her mother
wrote for the New York World and a great uncle was editor at the Frankfurter Zeitung
in Frankfurt, Germany. For more than 20 years, Gloria was columnist and feature
writer for the Pulitzer Prize winning Press-Enterprise, with her "Stars on
the Desert". Greer was a correspondent for Variety (weekly), Newsweek
Magazine, Newsweek News Service, Associated Press, and Town and Country
Magazine, where one contribution was a 23-page spread on the Coachella Valley.
When TV came to the desert, Greer brought her Stars on the Desert to the local
ABC affiliate, and then to the NBC affiliate, KMIR, where she appeared for 25
years on the nightly news. She edited and published Sand to Sea magazine,
founded in 74' with her mother, and then sold to Palm Springs Life in '99.
After leaving KMIR, Greer, created, produced and hosted two television shows for
Time Warner and PBS in Southern California: Conversations with Gloria Greer and
Exploring the Arts. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' inducted
Greer into its prestigious Silver Circle for her 25 + years on air. Greer was
the first journalist to receive a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in
1997. Other honors include one of the women "We Most Want to Watch"
by the Desert Post Weekly, recipient of the California Hispanic Print Media
Award; Television Personality of the Year Award - Sun City Community
Association, Desert Business Achievement Awards' Spirit of the Valley Award,
the Spiritual Life Ministries Award, the Athena Award as Entrepreneur of the
Year, and Patriot of the Year by the Association of Naval Aviation for a two
part series she filmed from the aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln; Good
Samaritan of the Year award, the Woman of Achievement Award from The American
Friends of Hebrew University, the Palm Springs Woman's Press Club's named her
Press Woman of the Year, and Palm Springs Women in Film & Television's
Broken Glass Award. Gloria believed true success is measured by giving back to
those less fortunate. She was passionate about both the performing and visual
arts. She served on numerous non-profit boards. (For a full list, visit
GloriaGreer.com) In 1999, when daughter Norma was diagnosed with Multiple
Sclerosis, Gloria founded ACT for MS. She served on the board until her death,
as well as being a current board member of Opera Showcase, the Palm Springs Air
Museum and the Palm Springs Cultural Center. Diminutive in stature Gloria Greer
had a larger than life personality. She was afraid of nothing. She traveled the
world and read voraciously. She asked questions of perfect strangers who became
lifelong friends and arrived late at every party, but as friends said
"when Gloria arrived ….the Party began." Greer was preceded in death
by her husband, Norman J. Greer, Jr. She is survived by her golden retriever
Tallulah, her twin daughters Ann and Norma, and two grandsons, Christian and
Jean-Paul Chalupa. A Celebration of Life open to the public at the Camelot
Theater on Monday, Nov. 30th, 5 PM Social hour and 6 PM Formal program. In lieu
of flowers, please send donations to ACT for Multiple Sclerosis, the Palm
Springs Air Museum or Opera Showcase of the Desert.
GRANT, Gloria (Gloria
Friedland)
Born:
10/11/1928, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died:
10/30/2015, Palm Desert, California, U.S.A.
Gloria Grant’s
westerns – actress:
The Adventures of Kit Carson (TV) – 1951 (Mary Gage)
Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1956, 1957 (Ann Hartley,
Donna Turek)
Circus Boy (TV) – 1957 (Alice Lilly)
