Crosson, Robert, 1929-2001

Los Angeles (Calif.) poet, author and Hollywood actor, born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1929, Crosson moved to Pomona, California, in 1944. He pursued a writing career beginning in the early 1960s and supported himself throughout his life with restaurant jobs, house painting and carpentry work. Crosson produced several books of collected poetry and a large collection of unpublished poetry and prose. Crosson died in 2001.

Biography

Born in 1929, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Crosson moved with his family to Pomona, California, in 1944. He graduated from Pomona High School in 1948, attended Mt. San Antonio College and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in English and theatre arts in 1951.

Between 1952 and 1960, Crosson pursued an acting career and appeared in numerous television programs, including "Captain Midnight," "Dragnet," "Superman," "Studio 57," and the "Millionaire," as well as the Paramount pictures, WHITE CHRISTMAS and LAST DAY OF MY LIFE.

At the end of the 1950s, Crosson moved to Europe to write, but returned after two years making little progress. He entered the masters program in library science at UCLA, but soon gave up to work on his novel, "Midland." Crosson worked as a dishwasher, restaurant manager and eventually supported himself and his writing as a house painter and carpenter until 1996 when his health began to decline.

Crosson's first published book, GEOGRAPHIES (1981), was followed by ABANDONED LATITUDES: THREE LOS ANGELES WRITERS (1983), CALLIOPE (1988), THE BLUE SOPRANO (1994), and a chapbook entitled IN THE ETHERS OF THE AMAZON, POEMS 1984-1997. His work entitled "Round-Trip to Midland" remains unpublished. Crosson's daybooks document his daily activities of writing, house painting and carpentry. His collage making began after his first stay in a convalescent hospital in 1998.

Crosson died on December 10, 2001.