A legend of the New York City tabloid newspaper world who went on to a long career as an author has died. Pete Hamill, a longtime columnist for the New York Daily News and New York Post, was 85. He had suffered a variety of health problems in recent years.
A native of Brooklyn, Hamill was a tabloid figure even after his newspaper days were behind him: dating people like Jackie Onassis and Shirley MacLaine. He wound up on Nixon’s enemies list, and was one of the people who wrestled the gun away from Robert Kennedy’s assassin at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Hamill was a frequent guest on WAMC, discussing his novels and non-fiction. Joe Donahue spoke with Pete Hamill several times, including for this episode of The Book Show in 2013. We share a portion of that interview today in memoriam.
