The true story of the influential and controversial columnist, Walter Winchell.

Biopic of the controversial muckraking journalist Walter Winchell. After spending 12 years in vaudeville, Winchell began writing a column in the New York Mirror. Part gossip, part half-truths, the reporting focused on well-known or prominent individuals and their dalliances. Winchell grew in popularity, particularly when he started his weekly Sunday night radio show. His reporting became more political in the late 1930s when he railed against Hitler. His star began to fall in the 1950s when Josephine Baker was refused service at the Stork Club and Winchell allegedly refused to do anything about it. The end came with his support of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his own rabid anti-communism. Following McCarthy's style, Winchell accused anyone who stood in his way of being a communist. Soon, he found himself facing lawsuits, a failed attempt at a television show and eventually, the cancellation of his radio show.—garykmcd

In the 20's, the controversial New Yorker journalist Walter Winchell begins his career writing gossips about his acquaintances. He is hired by the New York Daily Mirror and using inside information from informers, he becomes the first American gossip columnist. He becomes successful and is invited to host a successful broadcast show in the radio. In the 30's, he attacks Adolf Hitler and befriends President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After the World War II, Winchell attacks the communists and becomes a collaborator of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Winchell is not able to adapt his show to the audience of television and when McCarthy is censured by the Senate, Winchell becomes unpopular and his career virtually ends.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This docudrama chronicles the life of gossip columnist Walter Winchell. Rising to fame in the mid-1930s, Winchell helps usher in the age of tabloid journalism with his talent for digging up dirt about the rich and powerful. By the 1950s, Winchell has secured his place as America's leader in controversy -- even if his prose comes courtesy of ghostwriter Herman Klurfeld. But the tables turn when Winchell finds himself at the center of a high-profile scandal.—Jwelch5742

Biography of 1950s gossip columnist and radio show announcer Walter Winchell who wrote in a very unorthodox style, but grabbed the public's attention with his dirt on public figures. However, as shown, he lived far from a clean life himself. He lived out of a hotel room away from his family where he fraternized with a known prostitute who was, of course, seeking to make her break in show business.—John Sacksteder <[email protected]>