LAURIE JACOBSON

"PROF. MIRIAM VALENTINE / TRIAD 2"

Laurie Jacobson is a celebrated Hollywood researcher and author who released her fourth book in 2008. Timmy's in the Well - The Jon Provost Story (Cumberland House) celebrates the 50th anniversary of Timmy from the original Lassie TV series. The book is a memoir she co-wrote with Provost, her husband.

Prior to Timmy's in the Well, Laurie published the saucy and inventive Dishing Hollywood (Cumberland, 2nd printing), spilling the beans on 43 Tinseltown scandals - with a pertinent recipe connected to each one. Laurie's second book, Hollywood Haunted (Angel City Press, 7th printing) covers more than 100 years of ghostly goings-on in filmland.

Recently, Laurie also made her film debut alongside Oscar-nominee Shirley Knight in Not Fade Away.

A reformed stand-up comic, Laurie emerged from Harvey Lembeck's Comedy Improv Workshop, where she worked for years with classmates like Robin Williams, John Larroquette and John Ritter. While performing with comedy groups, Laurie immersed herself in studying the history of those who came before her. The stories and interviews she collected during this period became the basis for her debut, archetype book, Hollywood Heartbreak (Simon & Schuster, 3 printings), a 75-year history of Hollywood told through the lives and deaths of 31 people. Following its publication, Laurie emerged as a leading Hollywood historian.

Collaborations with other writers include Suzanne Somers on her third book Wednesday's Children, interviews with celebrities raised in abusive environments, as well contributions to tomes like Hollywood Handbook and The Hollywood Archive.

Since then she has written and produced documentaries, television series and specials, including: The 20th Anniversary of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Museum of Television and Radio's Salute to Funny Women of Television, The Warner Bros. Studio Rededication Party, The Suzanne Somers Show, Photoplay and Hollywood Chronicles.

As well as being the reigning expert on Tinseltown's ghosts, scandals and mysteries, Laurie appears regularly on radio and television, including: E!, CNN, Mike Wallace's 20th Century, Entertainment Tonight, Art Bell, A&E, History Channel, Discovery Channel, TVland and AMC.

Laurie Jacobson and Jon Provost make their home in Northern California.