Sam Rubin dead: Beloved LA entertainment anchor, interviewer was 64
Sam Rubin arrives at the AARP Movies for Grownups Film Showcase in 2014, in Los Angeles. Rubin, a beloved entertainment reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles, died Friday. He was 64.
Vince Bucci/AP Photos
LOS ANGELES — Sam Rubin, a beloved entertainment anchor and reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles who was on a first-name basis with Hollywood's top stars, has died. He was 64.
The station announced that he died unexpectedly on Friday. No cause was released.
Rubin joined the station's morning news team in 1991. He conducted upbeat live interviews with actors and musicians from behind the anchor desk and was a mainstay at premiere red carpets and movie junkets. His final interview was with Jane Seymour on Thursday.
Seymour joined Tom Hanks, Viola Davis, Ben Stiller, Guillermo del Toro, Kiefer Sutherland, Octavia Spencer and other Hollywood figures in mourning Rubin on social media.
“Even if I was on my 85th interview that day, I was always happy to see Sam. Even if HE was on his 85th interview that day, he always brought genuine kindness, curiosity and an outside the box question,” Ryan Reynolds posted on X.
“There was no one more enthusiastic about his job than Sam Rubin. I’ve known Sam for most of my career, and he had a light in his eyes every early morning as he started his daily work,” Jamie Lee Curtis wrote on Instagram.
Rubin was also featured locally on WGN-TV where he contributed a daily Hollywood/entertainment report as part of the morning news broadcasts for the Chicago station in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Born in San Diego, Rubin graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles. He earned multiple honors from local news journalism groups, including a lifetime achievement award from the Southern California Broadcasters Association.
Rubin is survived by his wife, Leslie, and four children.