TCM Hosts Classic Film Festival

The first ever TCM Classic Film Festival begins today April 22 through April 25.

TCM's Robert Osborne was honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a star in front of the Ricardo Montalban Theater.

Robert Osborne is the host of Turner Classic Movies or TCM as it is known, the cable channel which shows the best all time classic movies of the great stars of the past.

You want to talk about class? How about classic movies? Well, Turner Classic movies, or TCM is a network that knows the classic movies.

Have you heard of Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, Gene Kelly, Hedy Lamar? Have you seen their movies? No, well, you've missed a lot. These are the greatest actors and actresses of all time and they can be found appearing regularly on TCM, the authority on the motion pictures that have defined greatness in the motion picture industry.

TCM was founded by Ted Turner after he purchased the largest catalog of motion pictures from MGM. The first movie ever screened on TCM was the 1939 classic epic Gone With The Wind. At the time of its launch, TCM competed against AMC, at the time called American Movie Classics, which had a virtually identical format to TCM as both cable channels ran mostly pre-1970 films; though by 2002, AMC had reformatted itself to feature films from all eras, leaving TCM as the only cable movie channel devoted entirely to classic films.

Before the creation of TCM, quite a few titles from its vast library of movies were broadcast — with commercial interruptions — on Turner's TNT channel, along with Turner's controversial colorized versions of black-and-white classics such as The Maltese Falcon.

When TCM was created in 1994, however, colorization did not carry over to the new channel. As Gary R. Edgerton wrote in the winter 2000 issue of The Journal of Popular Film and Television, TCM immediately advertised itself in April 1994 "with the promise: 'uninterrupted, uncolorized and commercial-free!' Attitudes had evidently come full circle. Colorization was now unfashionable and unprofitable — even for Ted Turner and his colleagues at TBS."

In 1996, the Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner. Not only did this put TCM and Warner Bros. under the same corporate umbrella, but it also gave TCM access to the post-1949 Warner Bros. library (which itself includes other acquired properties such as the Lorimar, Saul Zaentz, and National General Pictures libraries).

As a result, viewers interested in tracing the career development of actresses like Barbara Stanwyck or Greta Garbo or actors like Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart have the unique opportunity to see most of the feature films made during their careers, from beginning to end. Unlike AMC and Fox Movie Channel, Turner Classic Movies presents many of its features in their original screen aspect ratio (widescreen or full screen) whenever possible (TCM considers the issue so important they occasionally run an informational short subject educating viewers as to why letterbox presentation of widescreen films is preferred, showing viewers just how much of the picture is missed when such a film is presented in the pan and scan format).

TCM also regularly presents widescreen presentations of films not available in the format on any home video release (one example being Columbia Pictures' The Trouble with Angels (1966)), indicating they have the clout to obtain their own widescreen masters of such films from studios. In 2008 TCM was given a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

Most feature movies shown in prime time (8pm-2:30am Eastern Time) are presented by film historian Robert Osborne, who has been with the network since its launch in 1994.

Osborne began his career working as a contract actor for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's Desilu Studios. He became part of Lucille Ball's Desilu Workshop in which Ball worked with and nurtured young performers like Osborne and actress-singer Carole Cook. One of Osborne's early television appearances was in 1959 on an episode of 'Desilu Playhouse' called "Chain Of Command" starring Hugh O'Brian.

He was also featured on the special Christmas Day 'Desilu Playhouse' installment, "The Desilu Revue" in December of that year. He also appeared in small roles in such shows as The Californians and in the pilot episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.

Lucille Ball suggested to Osborne that he combine his love of film with his abilities as a journalist.[1] Osborne took her advice, although he has continued to appear in a number of small parts in television and film, including an appearance parodying his TCM hosting job on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

Osborne was a longtime columnist for The Hollywood Reporter from 1982 to 2009. In 2008, Abbeville Press published his book 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards.

For TCM, in addition to hosting four primetime movies seven days per week, he has also been the longtime host of special one-on-one private screening interviews. He has had interview shows with many familiar actors, actresses, and directors. Since 2006, he also co-hosts TCM's The Essentials, with Molly Haskell from 2006 to 2007, with Carrie Fisher from 2007 to 2008, with Rose McGowan from 2008 to 2009, and currently with Alec Baldwin.

Osborne has also participated in events at the Paley Center For Media in New York City saluting the television careers of Lucille Ball and Cloris Leachman. He recently served as moderator at the Paley for an evening celebrating the 100th birthday of Academy Award-winning songwriter Johnny Mercer.

Robert Osborne also hosts the annual Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival in Athens, Georgia. It began in 2005. The non-profit event is held by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.