Boots LeBaron

1932 - 2017

July 10, 1932 - August 25, 2017 Boots LeBaron, son of Thelma Ann Gangloff LeBaron and Bertram LeBaron, passed peacefully August 25, 2017, after a long battle with heart disease. Boots was born July 10, 1932 at Cedars in Hollywood, California. Following in his father's footsteps, a world class stuntman, Boots began acting at age three. He played the brother of the Dionne quintuplets, was the stunt double for Johnny Sheffield in the Tarzan series, and was one of the cave children in the 1940 film One Million B.C. with Victor Mature and Lon Chaney Jr. Boots graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1950, and was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1954. He played football and majored in writing and communications while attending Los Angeles City College. Boots began working for the Los Angeles Times as a Copy Boy and was promoted to the Television and Radio Desk with Walter Aims, Cecil Smith and Jerry Hulse as his mentors. Boots wrote the first FM columns that appeared in the Los Aneles Times weekly newspaper. Boots moved to the police beat in Parker Center in 1959 as a neophyte reporter and was mentored by Pat Shephard, a well-respected L.A. Times crime editor. In 1961 when the Times-Mirror company merged, Boots moved to Glenn Rose Associates as a publicist and writer. He represented Henry Mancini and the Seattle World's Fair. In 1964 at Capitol Records he represented the Beatles' 2nd tour to the U.S. and California. He represented new film releases and three T.V. series from 1965 to 1969 while at Universal Studios, and was Manager of Entertainment for Universal's first Studio Tours. Boots created signs "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" for Southern California Financial which was used by the California State Parks and Recreation. Boots opened National P.R. Assoc. and represented the opening of Old Towne Mall in Torrance, California. He represented Greg Garrison, producer for the Dean Martin Show and the Gold Diggers. He wrote human interest stories as a freelance writer for the Daily Breeze, Copley News Service and was syndicated nationally. Using his creative writing skills, Boots represented Walter Lantz, National Semi-Conductor, Solters and Sabinson, Ted Bates Agency, Hanna Barbera, Fries Entertainment and Chrysler Corporation. He self-published a book of his poems, philosophy and human-interest stories entitled "The Human Race by Boots LeBaron," available on Amazon. And recently shared his essays, poetry, prose, humorous art and fine art on a blog titled "bootslebaronsworld.com." Boots and his wife JoAnne lived and raised their three children, Brandon, Brooke and Beau, in Manhattan Beach, CA, for 52 years. He leaves four grandchildren, Jessica LeBaron, Massimo, Luciano, Natalia and son-in-law, Rocco Cortese. Memorial services are pending. Boots donated his remains to UCSD for medical research. His ashes will be scattered in the ocean, as he requested.