Aaron Latham (Journalist) Wiki, Age, Wife, Net Worth, Illness, Height, Salary, Children, Family

Aaron Latham Wiki – Aaron Latham Biography

Aaron Latham is an American magazine journalist who wrote the article that inspired the movie Urban Cowboy and co-wrote its script with director James Bridges. He also co-wrote the book for the short-lived 2003 Broadway musical version. He is a regular contributor to such publications as Rolling Stone, Esquire, Talk, and The New York Times. He has written a few novels and co-wrote the screenplays Perfect, also with Bridges, another film inspired by his articles, and The Program.

He began working for Esquire magazine as an editor in the early 1970s. Over the subsequent decades, he worked for New York Magazine as an assistant editor and has contributed to Rolling Stone and The New York Times, according to his Simon & Schuster profile. It was an assignment for Esquire in 1978 that spurred his career in a defining direction. He was tasked with writing about a “honky-tonk” nightclub in Houston called Gilley’s. The Houston Press reported in 2015 that during its prime, Gilley’s had a reputation as a “rough and tumble” club where people came to dance and ride the mechanical bull but also ran a high risk of getting into a fistfight.

His in-depth piece, called “The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America’s Search for True Grit” focused on refinery worker Dew Westbrook as its leading character. The article drew Hollywood’s attention. He ended up writing the screenplay, along with co-writer James Bridges, for a feature film. Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, premiered in 1980. He kept detailed journals while making the movie, which he later donated to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. A few years after Urban Cowboy came out, he teamed up with Travolta and Bridges again for the 1985 movie Perfect. That movie was based on a feature Latham wrote for Rolling Stone called “Looking for Mr. Goodbody.” The article proclaimed that fitness clubs had become gathering places for single people to meet and mingle. His resume includes writing the screenplay for a third movie, The Program, starring Halle Berry. He has also published several books including Crazy Sundays: F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood, Orchids for Mother, The Cowboy With the Tiffany Gun, and Riding with John Wayne.

According to his Facebook page, Latham graduated from Catalina High School in Tucson, Arizona, in 1962. He then proceeded to Massachusetts, where he attended Amherst College and was part of the 1966 graduating class. He earned his Ph.D. at Princeton and wrote about author F. Scott Fitzgerald for his dissertation, Texas Monthly reported.

Aaron Latham Age

He was born on October 3, 1943 in Spur, Texas, United States.

Aaron Latham Wife

He is married to his wife, CBS News, and 60 Minutes correspondent, Lesley Stahl. Their wedding was in February 1977. They got married after realizing Stahl was pregnant and did not want to settle down without being married.

Aaron Latham Children

He has one daughter named Taylor Stahl Latham who was born in September 1977. She is married and based in Los Angeles. She became a vice president of production at Double Feature Films.

Aaron Latham Parents

His parents are Annie Launa and Cecil Clyde Latham. He was raised in a Methodist family in the tiny Spur in Dickens County in West Texas near Lubbock. His father coached high school football and his mother was a teacher.

Aaron Latham Illness – Parkinson’s Disease

Latham has been battling Parkinson’s disease for over ten years. He began exhibiting symptoms in 2007 and suffered a few falls before he received the diagnosis. In 2015, he began a new exercise regimen to slow the progression of the disease. He started participating in a therapy program called Rock Steady; his local program has since been renamed StoPD. The boxing program was designed for Parkinson’s patients and his program place at the famed Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where Muhammad Ali trained.