Editing Walter Winchell (section)

{{Short description|American gossip reporter (1897–1972)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox person
|image           =Walter Winchell 1960.JPG
|caption         =Winchell in 1960
|birth_date      = {{birth date|1897|4|7|mf=y}}
|birth_place     = New York City, U.S.
| occupation     = {{hlist|Journalist|broadcaster}}
|death_date      = {{death date and age|1972|2|20|1897|4|7|mf=y}}
|death_place     = [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S.
|resting_place   =[[Greenwood/Memory Lawn Mortuary & Cemetery]]
|spouse          ={{marriage|Rita Greene|1919|1928|end= divorced}}
|domestic_partner=June Magee (1928-1970)
|children        =3
}}

'''Walter Winchell''' (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American [[newspaper]] [[gossip columnist]] and [[News broadcasting|radio news]] commentator. Originally a [[vaudeville]] performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and columnist for New York [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloids]]. He rose to national [[celebrity]] in the 1930s with [[Hearst Communications|Hearst]] newspaper chain syndication and a popular radio program. He was known for an innovative style of gossipy [[staccato]] news briefs, [[Joke|jokes]], and [[Jazz Age]] slang. Biographer [[Neal Gabler]] claimed that his popularity and influence "turned journalism into a form of entertainment".<ref name="PBS" />

He uncovered both [[Infotainment#Journalism|hard news]] and embarrassing stories about famous people by exploiting his exceptionally wide circle of contacts, first in the entertainment world and the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition era]] underworld, then in law enforcement and politics. He was known for trading gossip, sometimes in return for his silence. His outspoken style made him both feared and admired. Novels and movies were based on his wisecracking gossip columnist persona, as early as the play and film ''[[Blessed Event]]'' in 1932. As [[World War II]] approached in the 1930s, he attacked the appeasers of [[Nazism]], then in the 1950s aligned with [[Joseph McCarthy]] in his campaign against [[Communism|communists]]. He damaged the reputation of [[Josephine Baker]] as well as others who had earned his enmity.

He returned to television in 1959 as the narrator of the 1930s-set crime drama series ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]''.<ref name=britannica>{{cite encyclopedia |date=February 14, 2018 |access-date=<!-- 2018-03-11 --> March 11, 2018 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Winchell |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Walter Winchell, American journalist}}</ref> Over the years he appeared in more than two dozen films and television productions as an actor, sometimes playing himself.