Walter “Dusty” Saunders, who worked for the Rocky Mountain News for over a half-century while establishing himself as one of the country’s top entertainment critics, died Sunday a…
Dusty Saunders at Ray Longo’s Subway Tavern in Denver on Oct. 4, 2011.
“He was the paper’s north star,” said John Temple, former editor of the Rocky Mountain News. “He wrote in a conversational way, always telling it like he saw it, yet never being cruel. Readers could count on him to talk to them like he was sitting in the same room with them, and they could count on him to answer the questions he knew they’d have.
Saunders got his start at the Rocky Mountain News as a copy boy in 1953. That was the start of a 54-year run with the paper, the majority of it spent as a TV/entertainment critic and columnist.“Even if he was writing a column that was critical, he would always call me first to help me understand what he was thinking — he wouldn’t just deliver a broadside,” explained Sandy Clough, a longtime area sports talkshow host.
“Listening to him tell old Hollywood stories never got old,” Clough said. “He had a great sense of the world of entertainment, and he was a great listener. He really was curious about other people and about what other people thought. He could weave a yarn about some of the great actors, actresses, personalities and celebrities over the years. There weren’t too many people that he didn’t come to know, and that was reflected in his work.
After retiring from the Rocky Mountain News, Saunders worked as a freelancer for The Denver Post as a sports TV critic. He was proud of his Irish heritage and loved playing tennis, reading, and visiting Laguna Beach, Calif., on vacation.
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