Jimmy Breslin - Biography

Biography

Born in Jamaica, New York, Breslin was a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, the Daily News, the New York Journal American, Newsday, and other venues. When the Sunday supplement of the Tribune was reworked into New York magazine by editor Clay Felker in 1962, Breslin appeared in the new edition, which became "the hottest Sunday read in town."

He has been married twice. His first marriage, to Rosemary Dattolico, ended with her death in 1981. They had six children together: sons Kevin, James, Patrick and Christopher, and daughters Rosemary and Kelly. His daughter Rosemary died June 14, 2004 from a rare blood disease and his daughter Kelly, 44, died on April 21 2009, four days after a cardiac arrhythmia in a New York City restaurant. Since 1982, he has been married to former New York City Council member Ronnie Eldridge.

One of his best known columns was published the day after John F. Kennedy's funeral and focused on the man who had dug the president's grave. The column is indicative of Breslin's style, which often highlights how major events or the actions of those considered "newsworthy" affect the "common man".

Breslin's public profile in the 1960s as a regular guy led to a brief stint as a TV pitchman for Piels Beer, including a bar room commercial where he intoned in his deep voice: "Piels—it's a good drinkin' beer!"

In 1969, Breslin ran for president of the New York City Council in tandem with Norman Mailer, who was seeking election as mayor, on the unsuccessful independent 51st State ticket advocating secession of the city from the rest of the state. His memorable quote from the experience: "I am mortified to have taken part in a process that required bars to be closed.”

His career as an investigative journalist led him to cultivate ties with various Mafia and criminal elements in the city, not always with positive results. In 1970, he was viciously attacked and beaten at The Suite, a restaurant then owned by Lucchese crime family associate Henry Hill. The attack was carried out by mobster Jimmy Burke, who objected to an article Breslin had written involving another member of the Lucchese family, Paul Vario. Breslin suffered major concussion and nosebleeding, but survived the ordeal without any permanent injury.

In 1977, at the height of the Son of Sam scare in New York City, the killer, who was later identified as David Berkowitz, addressed letters to Breslin. Excerpts from these were published and later used in the Spike Lee film Summer of Sam, a film in which Breslin, portraying himself, bookends. In 2008, The Library of America selected one of Breslin's many Son of Sam articles published in the New York Daily News for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime writing.

In October 1986, Breslin landed his own twice-weekly late night talk show on ABC, Jimmy Breslin's People. Unfortunately, because many affiliates had already committed to syndicated programming when the new season started a month earlier, the show was often delayed or pre-empted altogether; even flagship station WABC pushed it back from its midnight slot to 2 AM, and would occasionally only air it one night a week. Disgusted, Breslin took out a full-page ad in the New York Times announcing that he was "firing the network" and would be ending the show after its Dec. 20 broadcast (at which time his 13-week contract expired).