Irv Kupcinet

Gossip columnist, TV personality

By VARIETY STAFF

Kupcinet

Venerable Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist and TV personality Irv "Kup" Kupcinet, who for more than half a century reported on Hollywood celebrities, foreign princes and presidents, died Monday Nov. 10 in Chi area's Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted Sunday with respiratory complications from pneumonia. He was 91.

"Irv Kupcinet is probably the most significant media personality in the history of Chicago because his impact was not only through his daily newspaper column, but also on television for 25 years," said Bruce DuMont, founder and president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. His "Kup's Column" was "one of the most read and quoted columns in America."Kupcinet started pounding out his 1,000-word gossip column for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1943. Column, at one point syndicated in 100 newspapers, celebrated its 60th anniversary in May.

Kupcinet also helped establish the latenight talkshow genre in Chicago with his award-winning "At Random," later called "Kup's Show." It aired every Saturday night for 27 years.

Kupcinet estimated he interviewed about 6,500 guests on the show, including former Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, Sen. Robert Kennedy, Yul Brynner and Liberace.

A native of Chicago's West Side, he became a sports writer for the Chicago Times after a shoulder injury sidelined his National Football League career in his first professional season (with the Philadelphia Eagles). The Chi Times later merged to create the Sun-Times.

"Kup's Column" was born after an editor encouraged him to expand on his habit to end stories with a series of short human interest items about the sports figures he was covering.

For years, Kupcinet competed with New York gossip columnist Walter Winchell by reporting on the doings of the rich and famous on both coasts. But Kupcinet also acknowledged his hometown's personalities by peppering his columns with items about Chicago trucking tycoons, business magnates and pharmacy moguls.

After movie columnist Hedda Hopper died in 1966, Kupcinet was invited to move to Los Angeles to replace her. But he said he chose to stay in Chicago because he and his wife could not face living in the same city where their daughter Karyn, an actress, had recently been killed. The crime was never solved.

The late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington renamed a bridge over the Chicago River to honor Kupcinet for his service to the city.

His wife of more than 60 years, Essee, died in 2001. He is survived by his son and two grandchildren.