Entertainment journalist Amy Dawes, who covered Hollywood for eight years at Daily Variety and later returned as a senior features editor, died Friday in Los Angeles of cancer. She was 56.
At Daily Variety, she reported on studios and independents in the 1990s, as well as writing film and music reviews. Over the course of her career she interviewed figures including Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Will Smith, and Susan Sarandon.
A true lover of all that was Hollywood and of the city of Los Angeles, she wrote the book “Sunset Boulevard: Cruising The Heart of Los Angeles,” for Los Angeles Times Books.
Dawes was also a screenwriter, writing indie drama “Zoe,” directed by Deborah Attoinese, in 2001.
After graduating from Auburn University and the masters in professional writing program at USC, Dawes worked as a reporter for the Daily News and the L.A. Herald Examiner. After her second stint at Variety, she served as editor of Creative Screenwriting Magazine.
She contributed frequently to Emmy Magazine, the Directors Guild Quarterly, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Buzz Magazine, and Rolling Stone.
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She is survived by her husband, Billy Vasquez, parents Annette and Robert Dawes, sister Pamela Dawes and brother Mike Dawes.
