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Kilgallen
Renowned Hearst Corporation reporter and regular What's My Line? TV game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen died in 1965 under mysterious circumstances that conspiracy theorists tie to her knowledge of aspects of the Kennedy assassination. This biography looks at the glamorous and dark sides of this celebrity reporter's life.
478 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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294 people want to read
About the author
Lee Israel
4 books44 followersLeonore Carol "Lee" Israel was an American author, now better known for her literary forgeries than for her two very popular biographies.
She began a career as a freelance writer in the 1960s. Her profile of Katharine Hepburn ran in the November 1967 issue of Esquire. In the 1970s and 1980s she wrote biographies of actress Tallulah Bankhead, journalist and game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen and cosmetics tycoon Estée Lauder. The biography of Kilgallen appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers List but the Estée Lauder bio was far less successful when it was published in the fall of 1985, in direct competition with Estée Lauder's own memoir.
To make money, Israel began forging a number of letters, estimated to be over 400, by deceased writers and actors. Later, she began stealing genuine letters and autographed papers of famous persons from archives and libraries, replacing them with her own forged copies. She sold both forged and stolen original works.
After being captured by the FBI, Israel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property in June of 1993 and served six months under house arrest and five years of federal probation. She died of cancer in 2014.
A movie about her last book, Can You Ever Forgive Me? a memoir of her crimes, was released on October 19, 2018, starring Melissa McCarthy.
She began a career as a freelance writer in the 1960s. Her profile of Katharine Hepburn ran in the November 1967 issue of Esquire. In the 1970s and 1980s she wrote biographies of actress Tallulah Bankhead, journalist and game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen and cosmetics tycoon Estée Lauder. The biography of Kilgallen appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers List but the Estée Lauder bio was far less successful when it was published in the fall of 1985, in direct competition with Estée Lauder's own memoir.
To make money, Israel began forging a number of letters, estimated to be over 400, by deceased writers and actors. Later, she began stealing genuine letters and autographed papers of famous persons from archives and libraries, replacing them with her own forged copies. She sold both forged and stolen original works.
After being captured by the FBI, Israel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property in June of 1993 and served six months under house arrest and five years of federal probation. She died of cancer in 2014.
A movie about her last book, Can You Ever Forgive Me? a memoir of her crimes, was released on October 19, 2018, starring Melissa McCarthy.
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January 17, 2019
Like her older contemporary, the powerful columnist and show business maker-or-breaker, Walter Winchell, Dorothy Kilgallen was a media star of great influence in mid-20th-century America, a household word whose column would have been syndicated in your local paper, whose face was ubiquitous weekly on the most popular and respected (and I might add, the most enduringly entertaining) game show of the 1950s and 1960s, What's My Line?, and a radio star in New York City in concert with her husband, producer/artist/actor Richard Kollmar. On top of that, she was a sensational reporter, one of the smartest and hardest working in journalism, a fact that in her day was somewhat obscured by her personal reveling in her own celebrity status and in the trivial nature of most of her gossipy show-business-slanted work. As one wag rather accurately stated in the book, "She stooped to conquer."
Like Winchell, Kilgallen faded fast in the public consciousness, but two things have given her a boost of immortality that Winchell likely will never have; one, her appearances on What's My Line?, (rerun in recent years on the Game Show Network and available on a superb Youtube channel that posts all the nearly 800 extant shows) have yielded her a new generation of fans, and, two (and probably even more importantly); her sudden death in late 1965 at a time she was investigating leads on the Kennedy assassination, which has refashioned her reputation from a somewhat frivolous celebrity into a kind of rebellious heroine, and made her grist for the seemingly inexhaustible Kennedy conspiracy mill.
In the speculation around that infamous assassination, Kilgallen has emerged in a heroic light, and whether or not she was indeed a martyr might seem beside the point -- that is, if the nature of her own death were not so filled with contradictions. In this, her name and her efforts had ensconced her in the pantheon of JFK-death doubters. More on that below...
What Dorothy represents for many today is her perceived status as a role model for women, she was the most famous woman journalist in the United States in her time, rising from her early years as a spunky but lightly considered "girl reporter" (who sought the approval of her respected Hearst reporter father, Jim), to one of the hardest-working and tenacious reporters in the business. When fellow reporters and others disparaged her, it was usually out of petty jealousy, because Dorothy Kilgallen -- whatever one might think of her in total -- somehow managed to get the stories that no one else could. In the case of the JFK killing, she seemed to have an almost supernatural superiority in gaining access to documents and interviews that eluded the rest of her peers.
Thrown forthwith into the sleazy world of crime reporting, Kilgallen learned to compartmentalize her work and her sensibilities as a goody two-shoes, social climbing, mother- and father-pleasing Catholic girl who all her life kept a frilly bedroom and office that looked like something out of teenage girl's dreams and who always wore sensible shoes and white gloves. The little girl remained strong in Kilgallen to the point that many of her contemporaries on her news beats and in her social circles expressed bafflement at her naivete, even after she'd covered some of the worst that humanity had to offer, and even after the philandering of her husband, Richard, led her into a torrid affair with the singer, Johnnie Ray. As one confidant in the book remarks -- even after Dorothy had come out in the world in her mid-40s to enjoy infidelity, booze and social rebellion -- Dorothy's candid phone calls resembled to him, something like a plea to "tell me a story, Daddy."
Dorothy's legacy as a writer and literary figure, and even as a reporter, are shaky to say the least. Her work -- never anthologized and never likely to be -- is ephemeral, marked by moments of inspiration and compelling narrative and unerring descriptive powers, but in the main glib, facile, trite, irrelevant and often petty. It was writing meant to entertain the masses over morning coffee, little more or less, meant for topical and fast consumption. Nonetheless, she earned the respect of many, including none less than Ernest Hemingway, who saw in her something more than the usual "sob sister" female reporter/columnist, as he put it.
Dorothy was controversial, and even though she knew this, her delicate sensibilities -- wrapped in a cool exterior that many interpreted as the mark of a cold, heartless personality bred into her by her stoic and proper upbringing and worldview -- revealed a thin skin and a tendency to retreat from the world in tears and to lash out ruthlessly at perceived slights. After a provincial Midwestern columnist criticized her for taking her children to the Stork Club on a Sunday instead of letting them engage in more youthful activities (a rather effective criticism), Dorothy responded with a masterly, acidic and effective comeback piece that put the man in his place.
For every work of reportage that earned her the respect of her peers and readers (her coverage of the trial of accused alleged killer Sam Sheppard and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the latter which earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination), there was far more lightweight and questionable fare that issued from her typewriter. Her coverage of Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev's landmark 1959 visit to the United States, for instance, seemed to be inordinately concerned with and critical of Mrs. Krushchev's frumpy clothes, a display of journalistic pettiness that even had anti-communist Americans questioning Kilgallen's taste and led to a torrent of hateful letters to the Hearst organization. When Dorothy wrote, it seemed, Dorothy and her opinions were more the story than the story itself, and both she and her bosses knew that, and were fine with it. It sold a lot of papers.
Dorothy's punctuality and reliability as a producer of flavorful copy made her invaluable to the Hearst organization, but it was more so to her a means to a personal end. Her career was intextricably woven into her social-climbing aims. She had a view of what constituted a proper and lovely world, decided that New York society exemplified that world and strove mightly in spite of the realities of life with other people to gain a place in that world and establish a respectable home simultaneously. Appearance was everything, and any flaws there were (she was forever self-conscious about her weak chin, for instance) were to be overcome, and so she did -- at possibly the cost of her inner sanity. Everything else was swept under the rug. She had fame, access to a smart and effulgently wealthy society she so craved, and a sizeable income that kept her in splendorous trappings. The parties she and Dick Kollmar held in their Manhattan apartment were legendary, no-expense-spared affairs. Again, Dorothy made sure to make herself the story.
I have to admit that halfway through this book, I was so put off by Kilgallen's priggishness and social prickliness that I was seriously considering giving the book two stars and throwing it aside as a lost cause -- despite author Lee Israel's yeoman work at fashioning a good biography out of scraps and the noncooperation of the Kilgallen family. It is, nonetheless, an impressive effort, and the lack of family input becomes tangential to the enterprise; given the family's tendency to whitewash Dorothy it's doubtful their cooperation would have yielded much of substantive value. Luckily it is Dorothy herself who makes the book interesting halfway through by finally becoming an interesting person.
In her 40s, Dorothy came out of her shell. The Catholic goody two-shoes had a passionate affair with bad boy Johnnie Ray, became an early champion of the profane comedy of Lenny Bruce (previously she bristled at dirty jokes), danced in public with a black man (the iconic New York singer, Bobby Short, whom she discovered), and even deigned to wear slacks.
Fun fact: Kilgallen flew on the Hindenburg across the Atlantic on the flight prior to its fiery demise, a stroke of luck that seemed to mark her charmed life, until fate caught up with her.
The final two chapters in this book are bravura ones, in which Lee Israel joins the top ranks of the muckrakers in reconstructing the possible scenarios around Kilgallen's still-disputed official "accidental" death ascribed to an overdose of booze and pills. Accidental death, suicide or murder? Israel provides solid basis for argument for any of these; doing a better job than the inept, corrupt or obfuscating public servants charged with best determining these things. Did Dorothy know too much? Was she getting too close to truths that would expose dark conspiracies? Israel leaves this as a possibility, noting that the statistical likelihood of so many people involved in the JFK affair dying in such large clusters so soon after the event at something on the order of more than a trillion to one.
Read it yourself and make your own conclusions.
KR@KY 2017
Like Winchell, Kilgallen faded fast in the public consciousness, but two things have given her a boost of immortality that Winchell likely will never have; one, her appearances on What's My Line?, (rerun in recent years on the Game Show Network and available on a superb Youtube channel that posts all the nearly 800 extant shows) have yielded her a new generation of fans, and, two (and probably even more importantly); her sudden death in late 1965 at a time she was investigating leads on the Kennedy assassination, which has refashioned her reputation from a somewhat frivolous celebrity into a kind of rebellious heroine, and made her grist for the seemingly inexhaustible Kennedy conspiracy mill.
In the speculation around that infamous assassination, Kilgallen has emerged in a heroic light, and whether or not she was indeed a martyr might seem beside the point -- that is, if the nature of her own death were not so filled with contradictions. In this, her name and her efforts had ensconced her in the pantheon of JFK-death doubters. More on that below...
What Dorothy represents for many today is her perceived status as a role model for women, she was the most famous woman journalist in the United States in her time, rising from her early years as a spunky but lightly considered "girl reporter" (who sought the approval of her respected Hearst reporter father, Jim), to one of the hardest-working and tenacious reporters in the business. When fellow reporters and others disparaged her, it was usually out of petty jealousy, because Dorothy Kilgallen -- whatever one might think of her in total -- somehow managed to get the stories that no one else could. In the case of the JFK killing, she seemed to have an almost supernatural superiority in gaining access to documents and interviews that eluded the rest of her peers.
Thrown forthwith into the sleazy world of crime reporting, Kilgallen learned to compartmentalize her work and her sensibilities as a goody two-shoes, social climbing, mother- and father-pleasing Catholic girl who all her life kept a frilly bedroom and office that looked like something out of teenage girl's dreams and who always wore sensible shoes and white gloves. The little girl remained strong in Kilgallen to the point that many of her contemporaries on her news beats and in her social circles expressed bafflement at her naivete, even after she'd covered some of the worst that humanity had to offer, and even after the philandering of her husband, Richard, led her into a torrid affair with the singer, Johnnie Ray. As one confidant in the book remarks -- even after Dorothy had come out in the world in her mid-40s to enjoy infidelity, booze and social rebellion -- Dorothy's candid phone calls resembled to him, something like a plea to "tell me a story, Daddy."
Dorothy's legacy as a writer and literary figure, and even as a reporter, are shaky to say the least. Her work -- never anthologized and never likely to be -- is ephemeral, marked by moments of inspiration and compelling narrative and unerring descriptive powers, but in the main glib, facile, trite, irrelevant and often petty. It was writing meant to entertain the masses over morning coffee, little more or less, meant for topical and fast consumption. Nonetheless, she earned the respect of many, including none less than Ernest Hemingway, who saw in her something more than the usual "sob sister" female reporter/columnist, as he put it.
Dorothy was controversial, and even though she knew this, her delicate sensibilities -- wrapped in a cool exterior that many interpreted as the mark of a cold, heartless personality bred into her by her stoic and proper upbringing and worldview -- revealed a thin skin and a tendency to retreat from the world in tears and to lash out ruthlessly at perceived slights. After a provincial Midwestern columnist criticized her for taking her children to the Stork Club on a Sunday instead of letting them engage in more youthful activities (a rather effective criticism), Dorothy responded with a masterly, acidic and effective comeback piece that put the man in his place.
For every work of reportage that earned her the respect of her peers and readers (her coverage of the trial of accused alleged killer Sam Sheppard and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the latter which earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination), there was far more lightweight and questionable fare that issued from her typewriter. Her coverage of Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev's landmark 1959 visit to the United States, for instance, seemed to be inordinately concerned with and critical of Mrs. Krushchev's frumpy clothes, a display of journalistic pettiness that even had anti-communist Americans questioning Kilgallen's taste and led to a torrent of hateful letters to the Hearst organization. When Dorothy wrote, it seemed, Dorothy and her opinions were more the story than the story itself, and both she and her bosses knew that, and were fine with it. It sold a lot of papers.
Dorothy's punctuality and reliability as a producer of flavorful copy made her invaluable to the Hearst organization, but it was more so to her a means to a personal end. Her career was intextricably woven into her social-climbing aims. She had a view of what constituted a proper and lovely world, decided that New York society exemplified that world and strove mightly in spite of the realities of life with other people to gain a place in that world and establish a respectable home simultaneously. Appearance was everything, and any flaws there were (she was forever self-conscious about her weak chin, for instance) were to be overcome, and so she did -- at possibly the cost of her inner sanity. Everything else was swept under the rug. She had fame, access to a smart and effulgently wealthy society she so craved, and a sizeable income that kept her in splendorous trappings. The parties she and Dick Kollmar held in their Manhattan apartment were legendary, no-expense-spared affairs. Again, Dorothy made sure to make herself the story.
I have to admit that halfway through this book, I was so put off by Kilgallen's priggishness and social prickliness that I was seriously considering giving the book two stars and throwing it aside as a lost cause -- despite author Lee Israel's yeoman work at fashioning a good biography out of scraps and the noncooperation of the Kilgallen family. It is, nonetheless, an impressive effort, and the lack of family input becomes tangential to the enterprise; given the family's tendency to whitewash Dorothy it's doubtful their cooperation would have yielded much of substantive value. Luckily it is Dorothy herself who makes the book interesting halfway through by finally becoming an interesting person.
In her 40s, Dorothy came out of her shell. The Catholic goody two-shoes had a passionate affair with bad boy Johnnie Ray, became an early champion of the profane comedy of Lenny Bruce (previously she bristled at dirty jokes), danced in public with a black man (the iconic New York singer, Bobby Short, whom she discovered), and even deigned to wear slacks.
Fun fact: Kilgallen flew on the Hindenburg across the Atlantic on the flight prior to its fiery demise, a stroke of luck that seemed to mark her charmed life, until fate caught up with her.
The final two chapters in this book are bravura ones, in which Lee Israel joins the top ranks of the muckrakers in reconstructing the possible scenarios around Kilgallen's still-disputed official "accidental" death ascribed to an overdose of booze and pills. Accidental death, suicide or murder? Israel provides solid basis for argument for any of these; doing a better job than the inept, corrupt or obfuscating public servants charged with best determining these things. Did Dorothy know too much? Was she getting too close to truths that would expose dark conspiracies? Israel leaves this as a possibility, noting that the statistical likelihood of so many people involved in the JFK affair dying in such large clusters so soon after the event at something on the order of more than a trillion to one.
Read it yourself and make your own conclusions.
KR@KY 2017
November 4, 2014
Hot Dot did not OD or kill herself. Salut to author Lee Israel. Kilgallen covered the Sam Sheppard trial of his wife's murder and believed he was innocent. Guess what ? She was right. Now, she believed she had the "goods" on the JFK death. Suddenly, she wuz dead ! Why would she kill herself, in that case. Or accidentially OD in a guest room of her own NYC townhouse ? With her wig still on ??
June 3, 2014
An incredible bio with so much work and research put into it. The only thing missing was the Kilgallen family's input, but that was explained by the author. I so wish Dorothy got a chance to tell her life story. She had such a fascinating life. This book literally takes you through a whole range of emotions. It took me a little longer to warm up to Dorothy when watching old WML eps. I had initially just started watching the old shows bc I became a huge Arlene Francis fan. As time went on, I started realizing that Dorothy might just be someone I want to learn more about. I'm glad I have. A lovely soul.
June 23, 2017
When you watch Dorothy on WHAT'S MY LINE, you see a confident, smart, sophisticated woman who seems to have the world on a string. In reality, she was much more complicated. She seems so alone, even though she was surrounded by people. Her marriage was a sham, she was truly house poor, and her world was a mirage, but somehow, she just kept going. I found her fascinating & heartbreaking at the same time. I wish she would've lived long enough to tell this story herself.
I read this book after reading Mark Shaw's THE REPORTER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. I wish I would've read this one first, but either way, it paints a more complete picture of a enthralling, complicated, and compelling woman.
I read this book after reading Mark Shaw's THE REPORTER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. I wish I would've read this one first, but either way, it paints a more complete picture of a enthralling, complicated, and compelling woman.
January 14, 2013
I first learned about Dorothy Kilgallen about a year ago. I was searching YouTube for clips of The Andrews Sisters (I am a big fan of theirs), one of the clips that I came upon was from 1959 when the sisters appeared together on a "What's My Line?". I thought that the show was witty, intelligent, and fun -- much better than the drivel that passes as "entertainment" nowadays on TV, but I digress. I searched for more clips of "What's My Line?" and quickly became a fan of the show. Prior to seeing these clips on YouTube I had no idea who Dorothy Kilgallen was or that she even existed. After watching several shows I became a fan of hers. You could tell that Dorothy was a true game player. She often asked impertinent questions but I do not see that as a fault.
Dorothy was a busy woman. She was the writer of a gossip column for the New York Journal-American (also syndicated in newspapers coast to coast), a crime reporter, a radio host with her husband Dick Kollmar, a regular panelist on the hit TV game show of the '50s & '60s "What's My Line?", a mother of 3 children, and the girlfriend of singer Johnnie Ray.
One thing that I didn't like about this book is that people, Lee Israel included, said that Dorothy was "not pretty". I have a problem with that. Honestly, I think that she was a very beautiful woman. It is mentioned that she was Frank Sinatra's "rival" as Dorothy wrote some nasty things about him in her column the "Voice of Broadway". Sinatra began calling her a "female fink" and "the chinless wonder". Dorothy, it is said, was highly insecure about her looks. It is a shame...
Kilgallen also liked to gossip about JFK and found out many "juicy" stories about him. She did not report them at first, however on August 3rd, 1962 she broke the news that JFK and Marilyn Monroe were having an affair. She did not name JFK outright in her column but astute people could read between the lines and make the connection themselves. Dorothy said later that she was not referring to JFK but to RFK. The next day August 4th, 1963, Marilyn Monroe was found dead.
On November 22, 1963 JFK was assassinated in Dallas, TX. Dorothy Kilgallen took a special interest in the assassination and was convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald did NOT kill the President. She was also very critical of the Warren Commission and was said to have an inside source leaking information to her. Kilgallen also had a private 8 minute interview with Jack Ruby (the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald), what information she learned during this meeting no one knows...Dorothy told several of her friends that she was close to finding out who REALLY killed JFK and "bust this case wide open".
Dorothy Kilgallen was found dead in her apartment at 45 East 68th St. on Manhattan's Upper East Side on November 8th, 1965. She was 52 years old. Officially there is no mystery to Dorothy Kilgallen's death. Her death certificate states that she died of "acute ethanol and barbiturate poisoning". It was no secret that Dorothy Kilgallen was an "alcoholic", however many people believe that she was murdered.
After reading this book, I feel now more than ever that she was "silenced" for knowing/finding out too much. Many people think that she was a catty woman who was only interested in money, designer clothes, and trash talking celebrities. I think that Dorothy Kilgallen was a very intelligent and sophisticated woman extinguished in her prime.
I enjoyed reading this book about her life. Lee Israel did an excellent job! I would highly recommend this book if you like gossip, murder, and intrigue!
Dorothy was a busy woman. She was the writer of a gossip column for the New York Journal-American (also syndicated in newspapers coast to coast), a crime reporter, a radio host with her husband Dick Kollmar, a regular panelist on the hit TV game show of the '50s & '60s "What's My Line?", a mother of 3 children, and the girlfriend of singer Johnnie Ray.
One thing that I didn't like about this book is that people, Lee Israel included, said that Dorothy was "not pretty". I have a problem with that. Honestly, I think that she was a very beautiful woman. It is mentioned that she was Frank Sinatra's "rival" as Dorothy wrote some nasty things about him in her column the "Voice of Broadway". Sinatra began calling her a "female fink" and "the chinless wonder". Dorothy, it is said, was highly insecure about her looks. It is a shame...
Kilgallen also liked to gossip about JFK and found out many "juicy" stories about him. She did not report them at first, however on August 3rd, 1962 she broke the news that JFK and Marilyn Monroe were having an affair. She did not name JFK outright in her column but astute people could read between the lines and make the connection themselves. Dorothy said later that she was not referring to JFK but to RFK. The next day August 4th, 1963, Marilyn Monroe was found dead.
On November 22, 1963 JFK was assassinated in Dallas, TX. Dorothy Kilgallen took a special interest in the assassination and was convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald did NOT kill the President. She was also very critical of the Warren Commission and was said to have an inside source leaking information to her. Kilgallen also had a private 8 minute interview with Jack Ruby (the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald), what information she learned during this meeting no one knows...Dorothy told several of her friends that she was close to finding out who REALLY killed JFK and "bust this case wide open".
Dorothy Kilgallen was found dead in her apartment at 45 East 68th St. on Manhattan's Upper East Side on November 8th, 1965. She was 52 years old. Officially there is no mystery to Dorothy Kilgallen's death. Her death certificate states that she died of "acute ethanol and barbiturate poisoning". It was no secret that Dorothy Kilgallen was an "alcoholic", however many people believe that she was murdered.
After reading this book, I feel now more than ever that she was "silenced" for knowing/finding out too much. Many people think that she was a catty woman who was only interested in money, designer clothes, and trash talking celebrities. I think that Dorothy Kilgallen was a very intelligent and sophisticated woman extinguished in her prime.
I enjoyed reading this book about her life. Lee Israel did an excellent job! I would highly recommend this book if you like gossip, murder, and intrigue!
August 6, 2025
Lee Israel did a superb job writing about Dorothy Kilgallen! The amount of information is more than I’ve read anywhere thus far! The reader gets an in depth look into Dorothy’s life along with a better understanding of who she was and why. Israel interviewed many people from Dorothy’s youngest son Kerry, close friends, the doctor who did her autopsy and a detective who was part of her quick death investigation. Each one has their own thoughts on Dorothy’s untimely death. It’s interesting her hair dresser Marc Sinclair told one version of his story for this book. Yet completely altered his story in later interviews. Unfortunately, many people changed their stories of when and how she was found. So I’m still left perplexed as to what actually happened to Dorothy.
Israel wrote a respectful biography of the amazing journalist and her remarkable life! It was also nice to see how Dorothy started to let loose and enjoy life more as she entered her 40s. That she stopped worrying as much (but not completely) of how others might judge her. I don’t know if Dorothy ever found the exact fulfillment she was looking for in life. But what a life she led! Her death is confusing and sad. I get why some of her family didn’t want to be interviewed and politely declined. It’s awful how a death involving alcohol, prescription meds or drugs suddenly ruins someone’s reputation. As if everyone who knew her was above overindulgence. Spoiler, they were not.
I feel this book does justice for Dorothy by letting the reader understand the woman behind the weekly columns, radio show and television show. Especially, in a time when women had to really fight to get ahead. Well, done Dorothy! You were a trailblazer for women to come!
Israel wrote a respectful biography of the amazing journalist and her remarkable life! It was also nice to see how Dorothy started to let loose and enjoy life more as she entered her 40s. That she stopped worrying as much (but not completely) of how others might judge her. I don’t know if Dorothy ever found the exact fulfillment she was looking for in life. But what a life she led! Her death is confusing and sad. I get why some of her family didn’t want to be interviewed and politely declined. It’s awful how a death involving alcohol, prescription meds or drugs suddenly ruins someone’s reputation. As if everyone who knew her was above overindulgence. Spoiler, they were not.
I feel this book does justice for Dorothy by letting the reader understand the woman behind the weekly columns, radio show and television show. Especially, in a time when women had to really fight to get ahead. Well, done Dorothy! You were a trailblazer for women to come!
April 19, 2017
I bought the book at a book sale because she was part of the 50 or 60’s. I knew she was a writer/celebrity. I may have confused her with Dorothy Parker.
I was still impressed with her. She was brought up very Catholic, and was reminded by her mother that she was NOT the most attractive thing, yet she respected them both. Her newspaper reporter father did not notice that aspect and she worshipped him and his job. She had his newspaper instincts and followed that path and became one of the best in a business dominated by men.
The 3 news people trip around the world gimmick helped garner her celebrity status and she segued into writing a Voice of Broadway, a breakfast TV show, and a busy nightlife. This lifestyle got her into trouble with booze and drugs, a marriage of convenience. Both had affairs, but kept up appearances. The biggest surprise for me was her involvement with the Kennedy assassination. She had scored a private interview with Jack Ruby, got hold of the Warren Commission Report before they were published etc…and uncovered info that proved facts were being withheld, changed and falsified. She knew there was a cover-up and conspiracy. She was determined to get the truth.
At this time in her life, she had cleaned up her act and was getting back into reporting news, her true talent. Unfortunately, she was so good at this, it got her killed. She knew her phones were tapped, yet she persevered. She had a late night rendezvous to get a tip and the next day she was found dead in her home. Her death is clouded in conflicting facts, missing info, smelling to me like a Marilyn Monroe cover up.
Now reading The Reporter Who Knew Too Much - Mark Shaw :)
I was still impressed with her. She was brought up very Catholic, and was reminded by her mother that she was NOT the most attractive thing, yet she respected them both. Her newspaper reporter father did not notice that aspect and she worshipped him and his job. She had his newspaper instincts and followed that path and became one of the best in a business dominated by men.
The 3 news people trip around the world gimmick helped garner her celebrity status and she segued into writing a Voice of Broadway, a breakfast TV show, and a busy nightlife. This lifestyle got her into trouble with booze and drugs, a marriage of convenience. Both had affairs, but kept up appearances. The biggest surprise for me was her involvement with the Kennedy assassination. She had scored a private interview with Jack Ruby, got hold of the Warren Commission Report before they were published etc…and uncovered info that proved facts were being withheld, changed and falsified. She knew there was a cover-up and conspiracy. She was determined to get the truth.
At this time in her life, she had cleaned up her act and was getting back into reporting news, her true talent. Unfortunately, she was so good at this, it got her killed. She knew her phones were tapped, yet she persevered. She had a late night rendezvous to get a tip and the next day she was found dead in her home. Her death is clouded in conflicting facts, missing info, smelling to me like a Marilyn Monroe cover up.
Now reading The Reporter Who Knew Too Much - Mark Shaw :)
May 31, 2016
This book was sent to my wife under weird circumstances so I felt compelled to read it. It follows the life of a shallow celebrity into the tangled weirdness of her death. No matter how you look at it, it seems that her death involved in a cover-up. Her involvement in researching the JFK assassination cost her dearly.
January 30, 2015
Great biography considering half her family did not want to comment on or participate in the writing of the book. Kudos for Kerry for being the only of the three children interested in sharing his mother with us.
November 14, 2018
#124
I watch the reruns of "What's My Line?" all the time... I enjoy Dorothy Kilgallen, but this book was difficult reading.
The print was small, and for a paperback, it had too many pages, & too much minutiae about her life in society..
So the book bored me, it lost me 1/4 through; but I did read most of the end which recounted her murder... But even that was filled w/ redundancies.
There was a whole lot of collusion going on there, she was found dead very early in the morning (before breakfast) and her family & staff seemed to have covered it up... Reports state she died/was found around noon?
But the most important fact was that she was murdered while investigating the murder of JFK.... and the FBI & CIA had a huge dossier on her...
I wish the book had been easier to read, but the writing was to leave no small stone unturned and all them stones began to drag heavily on me too early on.
I watch the reruns of "What's My Line?" all the time... I enjoy Dorothy Kilgallen, but this book was difficult reading.
The print was small, and for a paperback, it had too many pages, & too much minutiae about her life in society..
So the book bored me, it lost me 1/4 through; but I did read most of the end which recounted her murder... But even that was filled w/ redundancies.
There was a whole lot of collusion going on there, she was found dead very early in the morning (before breakfast) and her family & staff seemed to have covered it up... Reports state she died/was found around noon?
But the most important fact was that she was murdered while investigating the murder of JFK.... and the FBI & CIA had a huge dossier on her...
I wish the book had been easier to read, but the writing was to leave no small stone unturned and all them stones began to drag heavily on me too early on.
November 20, 2019
Biography of Dorothy Kilgallen, columnist of Voice of Broadway and game show panelist from What's My Line? Interesting.
March 24, 2009
The only thing I knew about Dorothy Kilgallen before reading this book is that she was a permanent member of the quiz show What's My Line in the 50's and 60's. I've seen most of the episodes on GSN and enjoy them a lot. Since I was only about seven when she died its not surprising that I know little about her beyond what I saw on old reruns. Somehow I don't think I would have enjoyed knowing her as a person, she was very fashion and clothes obsessed, the bulk of her work was as a gossip columnist and she was pretty nasty about a lot of it. Not things that hold much interest for me. She did do a lot of serious journalism including several murder trials that apparently were very well received. She followed the Sam Shepherd case and was the first to say that he was railroaded in his first trial. The most interesting part of the biography surrounds Dorothy's death. She was apparently consumed at the end of her life with proving that Lee Harvey Oswald had not been a "lone gunman" and was amassing materials to write about her theory. She is one of dozens of people around the death of JFK that died under "mysterious" circumstances. Was it suicide, murder or accident. We'll never know, neither does that author but it was a fun read at the end to see all the facts and theories that surround this woman's demise.
March 12, 2022
Lee Israel did a one-woman investigation into the life and death of columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, and found some extremely interesting bits of information. Every answer seemed to raise two more questions, however, and like many other mysterious deaths in the entertainment community, I suspect that this one will also go unsolved. I'd love for someone to pick up where Lee Israel left off and see if there's more that can be uncovered now that there are few identities to protect. Who was the "Out of Towner," for instance? The only family member who would cooperate with her was Kilgallen's younger son, and that was because he was so small when she died that he wanted to know more about his mother. Kilgallen's father, sisters and other children were still alive at the writing of this book, but declined to participate.
Having only ever seen Dorothy Kilgallen on What's My Line? and having never read any of her columns, I was fascinated by her investigations into the JFK assassination, and not terribly surprised that she was found dead when she was getting too close for comfort for those who had something to hide. She is one of many who have gotten too close to the truth about the JFK assassination, and the price she paid is not an unusual one.
Having only ever seen Dorothy Kilgallen on What's My Line? and having never read any of her columns, I was fascinated by her investigations into the JFK assassination, and not terribly surprised that she was found dead when she was getting too close for comfort for those who had something to hide. She is one of many who have gotten too close to the truth about the JFK assassination, and the price she paid is not an unusual one.
August 26, 2013
Kilgallen was a fascinating creature and doubtless a charming dinner companion, a real life Torchy Blane. Forget the conspiracy nonsense; thankfully biographer Israel spends less time on it than the promotion for this book promises.
October 26, 2010
An okay book, however a little dry for a good biography.
March 28, 2015
Conspiracy or not, a great history of 20th century print reporter and columnist, as well as look at Hearst NY operation.
January 25, 2016
A trip back in time to the Dorothy Kilgallen era. Was she murdered and if so, by whom?
The book seems to hint that she was. But by whom?
The book seems to hint that she was. But by whom?
May 28, 2016
I remember seeing Kilgallen on reruns of quiz shows when I was young. What a mess.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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