Bobby Rivers obit

Bobby Rivers, Celebrity Interviewer, TV Host and Film Critic, Dies at 70

The Los Angeles native came of age in Milwaukee and presided over shows on VH1 and the Food Network. 

He was not on the list.

Bobby Rivers, the sassy celebrity interviewer and film critic who hosted Watch Bobby Rivers for VH1 and Top 5 for the Food Network, has died. He was 70.

Rivers had been living in St. Paul, Minnesota, and died Tuesday night in a Minneapolis hospital, his sister, Betsy, told The Hollywood Reporter. She said he had suffered a series of mini-strokes and had a recurrence of lung cancer.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Rivers was the oldest of three kids. He once noted in an interview with Our Lives magazine that “both my parents loved old films, so they really cultivated and encouraged this in me.”

Rivers was a winning contestant on the syndicated program The Movie Game while he was attending the all-boys Verbum Dei Jesuit High School in L.A., then came to Milwaukee in 1972 and graduated from Marquette University, where he majored in broadcasting.

After writing weekend newscasts for Milwaukee’s WRIT-FM, he entertained listeners on a morning show at WQFM and hosted public events around town. He then made the move to television, reviewing movies for the Milwaukee ABC affiliate, WISN-TV, and the syndicated show PM Magazine. He also hosted a talk show, More.

After Milwaukee, Rivers moved to New York for a job at WPIX-TV in 1985 and from 1987-90 hosted Watch Bobby Rivers, where he interviewed the likes of Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson.

He later hosted the syndicated game show Bedroom Buddies; served as a lifestyles/entertainment reporter for programs on WNBC-TV and WNYW-TV and Lifetime Live, an ABC/Lifetime newsmagazine; hosted the Food Network’s Top 5 program from 2002-04; and reviewed films for Whoopi Goldberg’s national radio show from 2006-08.

Survivors also include his brother, Tony.