Lyons, Leonard

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LYONS, LEONARD

LYONS, LEONARD (1906–1976), U.S. newspaper columnist. Born in New York, Lyons practiced as a lawyer while writing a column for the English-language section of the Jewish Daily Forward. In 1934 he started his popular column, "The Lyons Den," in the New York Post. For 40 years, Lyons churned out six columns a week, chronicling the activities of celebrities and important figures in all walks of life and all ranks up to the White House. His column was syndicated in more than 100 newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. His personal policy of focusing on the positive rather than the scandalous aspects of his subjects' lives endeared him to the many public figures he sought to interview. Blending his professional with his personal life, Lyons counted among his close friends such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock, Ernest Hemingway, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Milton Berle, Sofia Loren, and Joe Di Maggio. His son Jeffrey Lyons was a well-known film and theater critic.

[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]