Walter Winchell
(born April 7, 1897, New York, N.Y., U.S. — died Feb. 20, 1972, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. journalist and broadcaster. He entered vaudeville at age 13 and eventually began contributing tidbits to the Vaudeville News. Later, as a full-time gossip columnist, he moved to the New York Daily Mirror, where his widely syndicated column appeared until 1963. He had a weekly radio program from 1932 until the early 1950s. A prolific phrasemaker, he was noted for his slangy Broadway idiom. His opinionated news reports brought him a massive audience and great influence from the 1930s through the 1950s. He served as the unseen narrator of the television drama series The Untouchables (1959 – 63).
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