September 18, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Roderick Mann, a globally respected entertainment journalist and author, who wrote for the glitzy show business for over 4 decades, died on the 17th of September in Los Angeles.

Anastasia Kostoff Mann, his wife, revealed that he had been battling dementia as well as Alzheimer's disease for 2 years now. He worked as the entertainment feature writer with Sunday Express throughout the 1950s and the 1980s and Mann's interviews with movie as well as stage stars were not only extensively read and syndicated worldwide, but they also resulted in friendships with well-known actors like Cary Grant, Richard Burton and David Niven to name a few.

Roderick Mann was the closest to Grant, and looked up to him like an older brother. The famous Niven gave him credit for being the impetus to write his autobiography. Mann was also the confidant of his show-biz company and is noted for being a loyal friend all throughout. He was also pals with people like, Grace Kelly, Alexandra Bastedo, Kim Novak and Anthony Hopkins.

In the year 1978, Mann moved base from London and soon joined the Los Angeles Times. He became a columnist for the Calendar section of the paper as he continuously kept writing for the Express Group in London. He retired in the year 1988.

-- Sampurn Wire