Obituary Note: Digby Diehl

Journalist, critic, editor and author Digby Diehl, "who collaborated on celebrity autobiographies with Esther Williams, Natalie Cole, Patti LuPone and more," died September 24, the New York Times reported. He was 76. Diehl was was the founding editor of the Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review in 1975, and left in 1978 to become editor-in-chief of publisher Harry N. Abrams for a year and a half. He later worked as book editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, movie critic and entertainment editor for KCBS television in L.A., Hollywood correspondent for the CBS Morning News in 1986 and literary correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America.

Diehl co-authored Angel on My Shoulder with Cole; The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography with Williams; and Patti LuPone: A Memoir, as well as Bob Barker's Priceless Memories. He also co-wrote A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the C.I.A. by Duane R. Clarridge; Alone Together: My Life with J. Paul Getty by Teddy Getty Gaston; and Truth Be Told: A Memoir of Success, Suicide, and Survival by Lucinda Bassett. In 2012, he worked with Dan Rather on his book Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News.

"When working on a memoir, Digby didn't believe in interviews," said Kay Beyer Diehl, his widow. "He believed in conversations--in person, if possible--so he could take not just verbal but visual cues from the author. There was always a give-and-take designed not just to put the author at ease, but to help him create the authentic representation of the author's voice on the page. That was paramount."

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