James Grant (journalist)
Encyclopedia
James Grant is a former West Coast
Bureau Chief of Life Magazine and a prominent celebrity
journalist
. He is now President of JGPR - James Grant Public Relations based in New York.
. When Rivers was fired, Grant was promoted to co-producer of the show working with several different guest hosts including Arsenio Hall
, Mel Brooks
and Suzanne Somers
.
In 1987, he was named West Coast Bureau Chief of Life Magazine based in Los Angeles
re-establishing all editorial operations for the magazine in Hollywood. At age 27, he was the youngest Life Hollywood Bureau Chief in the history of Time/Life. While at Life, Grant landed several major exclusives for the magazine including the first interview with Donna Rice
following the breaking news of her alleged involvement with then Presidential front-runner Senator Gary Hart
. That same year, Grant conducted exclusive interviews with newsmakers Diane Sawyer
, Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, Jessica Hahn
and former Governor Jerry Brown
discussing his work with Mother Teresa
in Calcutta.
The following year, Grant negotiated and conducted the first ever interview with Lisa Marie Presley
. That Life cover became one of the magazine's all-time best sellers. He also landed the first interview with Mike Tyson
and wife Robin Givens
for a top selling Life cover done just days after they eloped. In 1989, Grant helped coordinate Lifes Special Hollywood Issue overseeing interviews and photo sessions with Bette Davis
(in her last photo session), Denzel Washington
, Tom Hanks
, Jimmy Stewart, Michelle Pfeiffer
, Glenn Close
and other actors.
In 1990, Grant moved over to Entertainment Weekly
, another Time/Warner publication, under contract writing cover stories and helping to establish the magazine in Hollywood. In 1993, Grant interviewed River Phoenix for the cover of Detour. The interview turned out to be the actor's last cover story before his overdose a few weeks later. That same year, Grant became a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times
doing over a dozen profiles on filmmakers including Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, John Waters, Elizabeth Taylor
and Gregory Peck
.
In 1995, Grant moved to New York
where he wrote cover stories for Cosmopolitan including Cindy Crawford's first interview following her divorce from Richard Gere
. He also wrote cover stories for Us Magazine, Out, McCalls and features for In Style, Harpers Bazaar, Good Housekeeping
, the Chicago Tribune
and Newsday.
As an entertainment commentator, Grant has appeared on Larry King Live
, Entertainment Tonight
, CNN
's Showbiz Today, CBS News
, The John McLaughlin Report, E!
Network, A.M. Los Angeles, Mid-Morning L.A., A.M. San Francisco, People Are Talking, A.M. Seattle, and A.M. Northwest. He has also been a frequent guest on radio shows including The Rick Dees Show and The Tom Snyder Show.
Also an established photographer, Grant has photographed over fifty celebrities including Matthew Broderick, Sir Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Rebecca De Mornay, Dylan McDermott, Gloria Reuben, Dennis Haysbert, Pedro Almodovar, Randy Travis and Antonio Sabato Jr. His photography has been published in People, Entertainment Weekly, T.V. Guide, Max (Italy) and syndicated worldwide.
He has also served as West Coast Publicity Director of Orion Pictures and as a Media Consultant to heiress Aileen Getty in helping to bring awareness to Women With AIDS.
Grant is a graduate of the University of Southern California
, The Catlin Gabel School and is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega
fraternity.
In January 2009, Variety
reported that Grant had been hired by MRG - The Michael Russell Group as Vice President and would oversee all aspects of the company's public relations operations for the newly established New York office. MRG is one of Hollywood's most influential public relations companies handling entertainment and corporate accounts including The Golden Globes (16 years), The Hollywood Foreign Press, Stars for a Cause, the Entertainment Tonight
Oscar party, films campaigns such as the Oscar-nominated "Mongol and Roland Emmerich's Centropolis Entertainment, Entertainment Outreach for the Government of Iraq and The One Club
in New York
.
On January 18, 2011, PR WEEK reported that Grant was leaving MRG to launch his own PR company -- JGPR, James Grant Public Relations based in New York. It was reported that Grant took with him all his clients along with his entire PR team to the new company. Those clients included two of New York's most prestigious non-profit organizations -- The Loreen Arbus Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy of New York City. In addition to those accounts, JGPR subsequently signed The White House Project, The Epic Awards, Women Who Care, Best-Selling author Mary Buffett, actress Robin Givens, noted Photographer Javier Gomez, The Elly Awards with Barbara Walters and other accounts.
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
Bureau Chief of Life Magazine and a prominent celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He is now President of JGPR - James Grant Public Relations based in New York.
Biography
He began his career at Time/Life in 1983 as a Special Correspondent for People Magazine reporting numerous cover stories including two best-selling Sexiest Man Alive covers. In 1986, he left People joining The Fox Network as a segment producer for The Late Show Starring Joan RiversJoan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
. When Rivers was fired, Grant was promoted to co-producer of the show working with several different guest hosts including Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall is an American actor, comedian, and former talk show host. He is best known for his talk show The Arsenio Hall Show, which ran between 1989 and 1994, and his roles in the films Coming to America and Harlem Nights.Hall is also known for his appearance as Alan Thicke's sidekick on the...
, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
.
In 1987, he was named West Coast Bureau Chief of Life Magazine based in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
re-establishing all editorial operations for the magazine in Hollywood. At age 27, he was the youngest Life Hollywood Bureau Chief in the history of Time/Life. While at Life, Grant landed several major exclusives for the magazine including the first interview with Donna Rice
Donna Rice
Donna Rice Hughes is the president and chair of Enough Is Enough, an American non-profit organization in the anti-pornography movement that seeks to make the Internet safer for families and children...
following the breaking news of her alleged involvement with then Presidential front-runner Senator Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
. That same year, Grant conducted exclusive interviews with newsmakers Diane Sawyer
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
, Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, Jessica Hahn
Jessica Hahn
Jessica Hahn is an American model and actress. She is best known for a sex scandal involving televangelist Jim Bakker while she was employed as a church secretary.-Jim Bakker scandal:...
and former Governor Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
discussing his work with Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
in Calcutta.
The following year, Grant negotiated and conducted the first ever interview with Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley is an American singer and songwriter, also known as the "Princess of Rock and Roll". She is the only child of Elvis Presley, and daughter of Priscilla Presley.-Early life:...
. That Life cover became one of the magazine's all-time best sellers. He also landed the first interview with Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
and wife Robin Givens
Robin Givens
Robin Simone Givens is an American model and film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her role as Darlene Merriman on the television series Head of the Class.-Early life:...
for a top selling Life cover done just days after they eloped. In 1989, Grant helped coordinate Lifes Special Hollywood Issue overseeing interviews and photo sessions with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
(in her last photo session), Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
, Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Jimmy Stewart, Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
, Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
and other actors.
In 1990, Grant moved over to Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, another Time/Warner publication, under contract writing cover stories and helping to establish the magazine in Hollywood. In 1993, Grant interviewed River Phoenix for the cover of Detour. The interview turned out to be the actor's last cover story before his overdose a few weeks later. That same year, Grant became a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
doing over a dozen profiles on filmmakers including Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, John Waters, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
and Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
.
In 1995, Grant moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
where he wrote cover stories for Cosmopolitan including Cindy Crawford's first interview following her divorce from Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
. He also wrote cover stories for Us Magazine, Out, McCalls and features for In Style, Harpers Bazaar, Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
and Newsday.
As an entertainment commentator, Grant has appeared on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Showbiz Today, CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, The John McLaughlin Report, E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
Network, A.M. Los Angeles, Mid-Morning L.A., A.M. San Francisco, People Are Talking, A.M. Seattle, and A.M. Northwest. He has also been a frequent guest on radio shows including The Rick Dees Show and The Tom Snyder Show.
Also an established photographer, Grant has photographed over fifty celebrities including Matthew Broderick, Sir Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Rebecca De Mornay, Dylan McDermott, Gloria Reuben, Dennis Haysbert, Pedro Almodovar, Randy Travis and Antonio Sabato Jr. His photography has been published in People, Entertainment Weekly, T.V. Guide, Max (Italy) and syndicated worldwide.
He has also served as West Coast Publicity Director of Orion Pictures and as a Media Consultant to heiress Aileen Getty in helping to bring awareness to Women With AIDS.
Grant is a graduate of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, The Catlin Gabel School and is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
fraternity.
In January 2009, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that Grant had been hired by MRG - The Michael Russell Group as Vice President and would oversee all aspects of the company's public relations operations for the newly established New York office. MRG is one of Hollywood's most influential public relations companies handling entertainment and corporate accounts including The Golden Globes (16 years), The Hollywood Foreign Press, Stars for a Cause, the Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
Oscar party, films campaigns such as the Oscar-nominated "Mongol and Roland Emmerich's Centropolis Entertainment, Entertainment Outreach for the Government of Iraq and The One Club
The One Club
Founded in New York City as The One Club for Art & Copy, The One Club produces three annual award competitions: One Show, One Show Design, and One Show Interactive...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
On January 18, 2011, PR WEEK reported that Grant was leaving MRG to launch his own PR company -- JGPR, James Grant Public Relations based in New York. It was reported that Grant took with him all his clients along with his entire PR team to the new company. Those clients included two of New York's most prestigious non-profit organizations -- The Loreen Arbus Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy of New York City. In addition to those accounts, JGPR subsequently signed The White House Project, The Epic Awards, Women Who Care, Best-Selling author Mary Buffett, actress Robin Givens, noted Photographer Javier Gomez, The Elly Awards with Barbara Walters and other accounts.
External links
http://www.prweekus.com/grant-splits-from-the-michael-russell-group/article/194410/- http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117998349.html
- http://www.elvis-presleys-kingdom.com/PRIS-1989McCalls.html
- http://www.lisamarieonline.net/lisa/interviews/LifeMagazine-1988.php
- http://simplycilla.com/mp/simplycilla/articles/Priscilla%20Prelsey%20Articles%20McCall's%201989.htm
- http://www.toppics4u.com/cindy_crawford/i2.html