Lawrence Laurent, who became The Washington Post’s first television critic in 1953 and wrote about entertainment programming, news and industry developments for more than 20 years — including an uncomprehending critique of the Beatles — died Aug. 1 at a retirement facility in Alexandria, Va. He was 95.
The cause was complications from dementia, his family said.
Mr. Laurent (pronounced lohr-RENT) joined The Post as a sportswriter in 1951 before being tapped by publisher Philip L. Graham to cover the emerging, experimental medium of television. Mr. Laurent took graduate courses at Harvard before embarking on his new beat as one of the country’s first full-time TV writers.
