Walter Winchell

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American journalist and radio commentator called the father of the modern gossip column. From 1930-1950 he was popular in nationally syndicated daily newspapers for reporting on show business and political figures. Winchell began writing a Broadway gossip column for the New York Graphic in the 1920s. Before going into broadcast he did a stint in show business as a song-and-dance man. In 1929 he began working for the New York Mirror and had wider circulation than any other syndicated columnist. His popular radio shows had larger audiences than did any those of any other entertainer. During the Great Depression Winchell branched out into political commentary. A big supporter of Roosevelt's New Deal, he was occasionally invited by Franklin D. Roosevelt to the White House. During the 1950s, Winchell covered the House Un-American Activities Hearings. He had access to Senator Joe McCarthy and reported on Communist infiltration of a government laboratory. By the time Eisenhower was President, Winchell was traveling with White House staff as part of the press. By 1957, his popularity was in decline. With prostate cancer, he died of cardiac arrest on 2/20/1972, Westwood, CA. Link to Wikipedia biography