Gil Stratton, a longtime presence in Southern California as an anchor on Channel 2 and KNX-AM 1070, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at this home in Toluca Lake, according to his wife, Dee. He was 86.
A former radio, theater and film actor and Pacific Coast League umpire, Stratton used the signature line "Time to call 'em as I see 'em." It first became familiar to generations of Southern Californians during his 16-year tenure on "The Big News," the KNXT (now KCBS-TV Channel 2) broadcast in the mid-1960s that scored huge ratings as the first hourlong news program in the region. The groundbreaking newscast at various times featured Clete Roberts, Jerry Dunphy, Ralph Story, Bill Stout and Bill Keene.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 25 words Type of Material: Correction
Stratton obituary: The obituary of sportscaster Gil Stratton in Monday's California section misspelled the last name of theater producer and director George Abbott as Abbot.
Stratton covered virtually every kind of sporting event, including the Summer Olympics from Rome in 1960. For years, he hosted the feature horse race on Saturdays from Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar. He also worked as an announcer for the L.A. Rams.
MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann worked with Stratton at KCBS and at KNX 1070.
"There aren't many renaissance men in any age, but Gil was one of them," Olbermann said in an e-mail to the Times on Sunday.
"He used to enthrall me. Stories of sports in L.A. in the 1950s. Working with Brando. Umpiring. Bill Stout stories. Jerry Dunphy stories. More Jerry Dunphy stories. Kissing Judy Garland every night for a year on Broadway. He knew everybody and everything and seemed to delight in them all."
Olbermann also recalled him as a man who didn't take himself too seriously.
"In '56 or '57, he had it on the highest authority that the Dodgers would not be moving to L.A. and said so on the air (and he used to laugh like hell when he said it on the air). In fact he told his viewers on KNXT that if the Dodgers did move to L.A., he'd jump off the end of the Santa Monica pier. They did, and so he did."
Stratton was born June 2, 1922, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended Poly Prep in Brooklyn and earned his bachelor's degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
He started his acting career as a teenager and, at 19, appeared on Broadway in the George Abbot production "Best Foot Forward," also working as a radio actor. Two years later, he appeared in the film "Girl Crazy" with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, singing "Embraceable You" in a duet with Garland.
