Walter Winchell biography at QuotationFun

A Short Biography of Walter Winchell

Author Name:

Walter Winchell

Born As:

Walter Winchell

Other Names:

Born:

7 Apr 1897

Died:

20 Feb 1972




author picture
Broadcast Journalist                          
                          
First wife Rita Green
Moved in with June Magee, who had already given birth to their first child, a daughter named Walda, and never married.

Winchell and Magee successfully kept the secret of their nonmarriage. Their adopted daughter Gloria died of pneumonia at age nine, and Walda spent time in mental institutions. Walter, Jr., the only son of the journalist, committed suicide in his family's garage on Christmas night, 1968. Having spent the previous two years on welfare, Winchell, Jr. had last been employed as a dishwasher in Santa Ana, California, but listed himself as a freelance writer.                          
                          
One of the first public commentators in America to attack Adolf Hitler, American pro-fascist and pro-Nazi organizations such as the German-American Bund.

After WW II Winchell changed perspective was his wartime attack on the National Maritime Union, the labor organization for the civilian United States Merchant Marine, which he believed was run by Communists.

This evolution in Winchell's perspective continued after the war. During the late 1940s, he became allied with the right wing of American politics. In this new role, Winchell frequently attacked politicians he did not like by implying in his commentaries that they were Communist sympathizers.

His Journalistic career eventually ended, and he was to receive $25,000 an episode to narrate The Untouchables on the ABC television network for five seasons beginning in 1959.