Posted on 11/12/2017 4:00:23 PM PST by Borges
Liz Smith, who chronicled the gossip among New York City's rich and scandalous for 60 years and played a key role in the high-profile divorce between Donald and Ivana Trump, has died, the New York Post, her former employer, said. She was 94.
Literary agent Joni Evans told The Associated Press she died in New York on Sunday of natural causes. Smith had recently suffered a stroke.
For more than a quarter-century, Smith's column - titled "Liz Smith" - was one of the most widely read in the world. Its success was due in part to Smith's own celebrity status, giving her insider access.
She started her own column at the New York Daily News in 1976. Known as the "Dame of Dish," Smith helped usher in the era of celebrity journalism in print and television.
In the Trump divorce, she chose the side of Ivana -- the wronged woman. Her coverage was so well-known that she became highest-paid columnist in the country. Mr. Trump said he would buy the Daily News just to fire her, The New York Times reported earlier this year.
"I was swept up in the scandal of Ivana wanting a decent settlement from Donald. And I became a featured player in the story, which I came to regret," she told the Times.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1923, Smith told the Times that she spent her childhood listening to the legendary gossp Walter Winchell. She arrived at New York City's Penn Station in 1949 with $50 and no job, according to the Times.
But unlike Winchell and his imitators, Smith succeeded with kindness and an aversion to cheap shots. Whether reporting on entertainers, politicians or power brokers, the "Dame of Dish" never bothered with unfounded rumors, sexual preferences or who's-sleeping-with-whom.
"When she escorts us into the private lives of popular culture's gods and monsters, it's with a spirit of wonder, not meanness," wrote Jane and Michael Stern in reviewing Smith's 2000 autobiography, "Natural Blonde," for the New York Times Book Review.
For nearly 30 years, Smith bounced from job to job: publicist for singer Kaye Ballard; assistant to Mike Wallace and Candid Camera creator Allen Funt; ghostwriter for Igor Cassini's "Cholly Knickerbocker" gossip column.
Smith ultimately wrote for nine New York newspapers and dozens of magazines, but it was a stint writing for Cosmopolitan that led to her break. While establishing herself as an authority on Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Smith attracted the attention of the New York Daily News.
She started her own column at the tabloid in 1976. A gossip star was born.
In 1978, during a strike at the News, Smith helped usher in the era of celebrity journalism on television by joining WNBC-TV for three nights a week commentary. Ten years later she jumped to Fox, and she later did work for the cable channel E! Entertainment Television.
During that time, Smith migrated from the News to the rival New York Post and finally to Newsday, ultimately earning salaries well into six figures. Her column was syndicated nationwide, drawing millions of readers.
She was married a second time, but it was also short-lived.
In between all the parties, movie premieres and late-night soirees at celebrity hangouts like Elaine's, Smith found time to host an ever-widening array of charity fund-raisers.
She raised money for groups such from Literacy Volunteers, which teaches adults to read and write, to the Women's Action Alliance, which promotes full equality for women.
In her 2000 memoir "Natural Blonde," she came out as bisexual. She told Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" that she fell in love with a woman when she attended the University of Texas in Austin
The incident led to a temporary rift with her own parents, and she labels it "unfortunate."But she has no embarrassment about her love affars over the years with men or women. "I'm not ashamed. I've had a wonderful time," Smith told Wallace.
Smith held a lighthearted opinion of her own legacy.
"We mustn't take ourselves too seriously in this world of gossip," she told The Associated Press in 1987. "When you look at it realistically, what I do is pretty insignificant.
"Still, I'm having a lot of fun."
Another Lesbian bites the dust.
Had to check if Rona Barrett was still alive & yes she is at age 81. For me, Rona was more on the TV. Never heard of Liz Smith until Donald’s divorce from Ivana.
Liz will be missed by her contemporaries, including me. She was never mean or bitter. She was so witty and bright. I always wanted a job like hers. RIP, old gal...and send us a few bulletins from Heaven now and then!
I always liked her. I was more interested in her interviews, columns and gossip than her personal life. It was years before I knew she was from Ft. Worth......guess that’s why I liked her.........RIP
She was actually a nice woman and a fair reporter. I never understood why we got stuck with awful Cindy Adams (still!!) and Liz was fired.
wow, I never realized that Liz was fired. I always thought she had more popularity and pull than Cindy Adams. I remember an interview article about Liz in Women’s Day. She described Madonna as someone who had so much ambition (or something like that), that she made Barbara Streisand look squishy. Always thought that was an interested assessment of Madonna!
Ding Dong the witch is dead.
Now if McStain and Maureen Dowd would only follow suit.......
RIP.
And some cover other people's divorces.
Can't think of any reason for me or anybody with any sense, for that matter, to care one way or the other if some gossipy old bat kicked the bucket.
I'm sure the world will not quit turning.
I read Liz Smith, too! Actually, also read Rona Barrett and Cindy Adams, too. That was back when I was young and starstruck, but stars were more magical than the jerks of today.
Anyway, prayers to her loved ones.
“Ding Dong the witch is dead.”
All I want to know is if she was a Democrat before I make a call.
All I know about her is she was an acquaintance of Dan Jenkins and a fan of his novels. She had some very funny comments about his work and seemed to have a sharp sense of humor. I figure if she liked books like ‘Baja Oklahoma’ or ‘Semi-Tough’, she couldn’t be all bad.
I thought she was sexy.
She is partially responsible for making Trump as media-proof as he is. Unintended consequences of the delicious variety.
Is this going to start a Trump death list like the Clintons?
rwood
The last interview I saw Liz seemed so miserable and sad at not being able to work. Hopefully at peace now. RIP
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