Kitty Kelley

Last updated

Kitty Kelley
Kitty Kelley Photo by Raymond Boyd (cropped and modified).jpg
Kelley at Borders Books and Music in Chicago, April 2010
BornCatherine Kelley
(1942-04-04) April 4, 1942 (age 82)
Spokane, Washington, U.S.
OccupationJournalist, writer
Notable works The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty (2004)
Oprah: A Biography (2010)
Notable awardsPEN Oakland Censorship Award
Spouse
Michael Edgley
​
​
(m. 1976;div. 1989)​
[1]
John Zucker
​
​
(m. 1992;died 2011)​
[2] [3]

Katherine Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American journalist and author of best-selling unauthorized biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British royal family, the Bush family, and Oprah Winfrey.

Contents

For the Sinatra biography, Kelley won praise for the quality of her research and willingness to risk a lawsuit, but critics have not rated her other works as highly. She has been described as a "professional sensationalist" and the "consummate gossip monger."

Early life

Catherine Kelley was raised in Spokane, Washington, the eldest of seven children of Adele ( née Martin) and William Vincent Kelley, a lawyer who served as president of the city's bar association. She had "an unhappy home life with an alcoholic mother" who "wasn’t just a closet drunk. She was often a nasty public drunk." [4] [5] She helped take care of her five sisters, Mary Cary, Ellen, Margaret, Adele Monica and Madeleine Sophie, as well as her brother, John. [6] The family vacationed in Europe and spent summers at their two lakeside cottages in western Idaho. [7] Kelley graduated from St. Augustine's Elementary School and then attended the private prep school Holy Names Academy. [8]

According to the biography Poison Pen by George Carpozi Jr., in 1962, Kelley was expelled from the University of Arizona in lieu of police filing criminal charges for grand larceny against her; the stolen items were expensive pieces of jewelry that Kelley's fellow students had kept in their dorm rooms; one sorority sister reported Kelley had also stolen her corselet and "lots more." [4] [5]

During the aftermath of her leaving the University of Arizona, her parents refused to let her live with them and sent her to live in Seattle with her maternal grandparents, the Martins. It was there that Kelley suffered a breakdown and used a wheelchair during some of that time. [9] After this eight-month hiatus, she surfaced at the University of Washington, [10] where she received a B.A. in English. She worked at the 1964 New York World's Fair and went on to become a receptionist-press secretary for Senator Eugene McCarthy. [11]

Following four years as a press assistant to McCarthy, Kelley worked for two years as the editorial page researcher for The Washington Post . She went on to have a full-time career as a freelance writer. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , Newsweek , The Washington Post, People , Ladies Home Journal , McCall's , Los Angeles Times , and the Chicago Tribune . [12]

In 1976, Kelley married Michael Edgley. [13] Edgley was media director for the National Council on Aging. He later quit his job to help Kelley with her early books, even looking in the garbage of Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband, U.S. Senator John Warner. [14] Kelley and Edgley divorced in 1989. [15] In 1992 Kelley married John Zucker, an allergist. Zucker died in 2011. [16]

Books

Jacqueline Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor biographies

Kelley's first celebrity biography was Jackie Oh! (1978), a life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which was written at the request of Lyle Stuart, who launched the book into the New York Times Best Seller list. In the book, Kelley describes John F. Kennedy's womanizing and includes "revelations" about Onassis's love life, her depression and electric shock treatment. Kelley's publisher Lyle Stuart was later quoted saying "at the time I believed her shock-treatment story. Looking back, I feel I was had and the whole thing was a fable. I doubt that it ever happened. And knowing how she makes things up, I believe she was sure she could get away with it because no one would sue." [17] Journalist Michael Crowley stated Jackie Oh! contained "core truths—including an unflinching look at JFK that showed him to have been 'more of a Romeo than has been previously revealed.'" [11]

This book was followed by Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star (1981).

His Way

Kelley's next book, His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986), was declared "an act of bravery." [11] Kelley discussed Sinatra's marriages, affairs and links to the Mob. Sinatra filed a $2 million lawsuit to prevent it from being published but subsequently dropped it. [18]

The book was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list and hit best-seller lists in England, Canada, Australia and France. William Safire of The New York Times said "His Way... turns out to be the most eye-opening celebrity biography of our time." [19] In The Washington Post, Jonathan Yardley wrote that "His Way is such an improvement over her two previous books... that comparisons border on the pointless." [11]

People magazine story

In 1990, Kelley wrote a piece for People magazine based on interviews she had conducted with Judith Campbell Exner, a former girlfriend of Frank Sinatra's who claimed to have had an affair with John F. Kennedy. [11] [20] Exner told Kelley that she had arranged ten meetings between Kennedy and Mafia gangster Sam Giancana, and they discussed having the mafia kill Fidel Castro. It was subsequently revealed that Exner, who was terminally ill, had been paid $50,000 to talk with Kelley and had not mentioned these "revelations" in her own autobiography, published years earlier. A former FBI agent said that Giancana had been under a federal wiretap, so these multiple meetings with Kennedy would have been impossible to cover up. [11]

Nancy Reagan biography

In 1991 Kelley published Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography. She was paid $3.5 million to write the book. [21] The book claimed that Nancy Reagan had had affairs with Frank Sinatra, that she frequently relied on astrology, that she had lied about her age, and that she had a very poor relationship with her children, even alleging that she hit her daughter, Patti. In December 2021, the book's allegation that the future first lady, "was renowned in Hollywood for performing oral sex... not only in the evening but in offices. [22] That was one of the reasons that she was very popular on the MGM lot" [23] became a minor internet meme. [24] [25]

According to Newsweek, "Despite her wretched excesses, Kelley has the core of the story right. Even her staunchest defenders concede that Nancy Reagan is more Marie Antoinette than Mother Teresa." However Newsweek also criticized the book's basic factual accuracy, noting that Kelley had reported that Ronald Reagan had allegedly date raped a 19-year-old, when the accuser would have actually been 25 at the time. [11] The book included an interview with actress Jacquelyn Park, who detailed an alleged affair with Ronald Reagan in the 1950s. [26]

Former President Ronald Reagan issued a statement saying the book "has no basis in fact and serves no decent purpose." [27]

Michael Korda, who had been the editor for Kelley's previous book on Elizabeth Taylor, asked to excuse himself from this work as he was slated to edit Ronald Reagan's autobiography. The Nancy Reagan book was edited instead by Alice Mayhew. Korda stated that Nancy Reagan was purported to have said about Kelley, "I hope she gets hit by a truck." [28]

British royal family and the Bush family

In September 1997, Kelley wrote The Royals (Warner Books, New York, ISBN   0-446-51712-7) about the British royal family. Kelley stated that the Windsors obscured their German ancestry and described scandals surrounding the members of the royal family.

The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty was published in September 2004. Kelley announced plans for the book shortly after George W. Bush's election in 2000 and worked on it for four years. [29]

Oprah Winfrey biography

In December 2006, Crown announced it would publish Kelley's unauthorized biography of Oprah Winfrey. The book, Oprah: A Biography, was released on April 13, 2010. The New Yorker declared the biography "one of those King Kong vs. Godzilla events in celebrity culture." [30] Oprah dismissed the book as a "so-called biography." [31]

Capturing Camelot

Kelley's most recent book, Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images of the Kennedys, was published by Thomas Dunne Books in November 2012. [32]

Criticism

Barbara Walters said books like Kelley's are more focused on salacious rather than factual content. [33] The New York Times claimed that Kelley "just aims for the jugular." [34] Time magazine reported that most journalists believe Kelley "too frequently fails to bring perspective or analysis to the fruits of her reporting and at times lards her work with dollops of questionable inferences and innuendos." Joe Klein described Kelley as a "professional sensationalist." [35]

Michael Crowley of Slate magazine once called Kelley "the consummate gossip monger, a vehicle for all the rumor and innuendo surrounding her illustrious subjects." [11] Kelley maintains, "I am an unabashed admirer of transparency and believe in the freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment" [36] and, to that end, her writing is about "moving an icon out of the moonlight and into the sunlight." Crowley, while conceding that Kelley's books, in particular her Sinatra biography, have revealed core truths not addressed by more sympathetic biographers, has also stated that her investigative methods are questionable, and many of the claims in her books have been falsified, as with her 1990 People magazine story about John F. Kennedy and organized crime boss Sam Giancana, and her Nancy Reagan biography. [11] Similar criticism has been leveled at her by Janet Maslin of The New York Times [34] and Joe Klein of Time magazine. [35]

Other work

Kelley is on the board of Washington Independent Review of Books, [37] and Reading is Fundamental.[ citation needed ] In 2008 she was on the board of Healthy Women. [38]

Awards and honors

Kelley won the 2005 PEN Oakland Censorship Award [39] and the Outstanding Author Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors [40] for her "courageous writing on popular culture." She received the Medal of Merit from the Lotos Club of New York City. [12]

Bibliography

Books

Essays and reporting

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Sinatra</span> American singer and actor (1915–1998)

Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes," he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century. Sinatra is among the world's best-selling music artists, with an estimated 150 million record sales globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Reagan</span> First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989

Nancy Reagan was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Kennedy</span> Sister of John F. Kennedy (1918–2005)

Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy was the eldest daughter born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred S. Bloomingdale</span> American businessman (1916–1982)

Alfred Schiffer Bloomingdale was an American businessman who launched the credit card business Dine and Sign, was chairman of Diners Club, and became known as "father of the credit card." He was an heir to the Bloomingdale's department store fortune and the lover of murdered mistress Vicki Morgan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patti Davis</span> Actress, author, and daughter of Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis

Patricia Ann Davis is an American actress and author. She is the daughter of U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his second wife, Nancy Reagan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Exner</span> Alleged mistress of John F. Kennedy (1934–1999)

Judith Exner was an American woman who claimed to be the mistress of U.S. Senator, then U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Mafia leaders Sam Giancana and John Roselli. Several aspects of her claim of having known Kennedy have been verified by documents, phone records, and testimony. She was also known as Judith Campbell Exner, and Judith Campbell.

The Greatest American is a 2005 American television series hosted by Matt Lauer. The four-part series featured biographies and lists of influential persons in American history, and culminated in a contest in which millions in the audience nominated and voted for the person they believed is the "greatest American".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan</span> 2004 Funeral of the 40th U.S. president

On June 5, 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died after having Alzheimer's disease for over a decade. Reagan was the first former U.S. president to die in 10 years since Richard Nixon in 1994. At the age of 93 years, 120 days, Reagan was the longest-lived U.S. president in history at the time of his death, a record which was surpassed by Gerald Ford on November 12, 2006. His seven-day state funeral followed. After Reagan's death, his body was taken from his Bel Air home to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California, to prepare the body for burial. On June 7, Reagan's casket was transported by hearse and displayed at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, then flown to Washington, D.C., on June 9 for a service, public viewing and tributes at the U.S. Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucianne Goldberg</span> American literary agent and author (1935–2022)

Lucianne Goldberg, also known as Lucianne Cummings, was an American literary agent and author. She was named as one of the "key players" in the 1998 impeachment of President Clinton, as it was she who controversially advised Monica Lewinsky's confidante Linda Tripp to tape Lewinsky's phone calls about their affair. The 20-hour recording became crucial to the Starr investigation. She was the mother of Jonah Goldberg, a conservative political commentator, and Joshua Goldberg, a Republican nominee for the New York City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Deaver</span> American political consultant

Michael Keith Deaver was a member of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff who served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under James Baker III and Donald Regan from January 1981 to May 1985.

George Carpozi Jr. was an American journalist, biographer and non-fiction author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal life of Frank Sinatra</span> Personal life and relationships

Frank Sinatra had many close relationships throughout his life. He was married four times and had at least six other notable relationships in between. He had three verified children, as well as more than one of questionable paternity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cal Neva Lodge & Casino</span> Resort on the California–Nevada border

Cal Neva Resort & Casino, previously known as the Calneva Resort and Cal-Neva Lodge, is a resort and casino straddling the border between Nevada and California on the shores of Lake Tahoe. The original building was constructed in 1926 and became famous when the national media picked up a story about actress Clara Bow canceling checks she owed to the Cal-Neva worth $13,000 in 1930. After burning down in a fire in 1937, the structure was rebuilt in only 30 days. In 1960, entertainer Frank Sinatra purchased the resort with several others, including singer Dean Martin and Chicago mobster Sam Giancana.

American Independent Writers (AIW) was an American trade organization for professional writers. It existed from 1975 until about 2011, when, due to dwindling membership and financial problems, it went out of business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Giancana</span> American mobster (1908-1975)

Salvatore "Mooney" Giancana was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Leamer</span> American author and journalist

Laurence Leamer is an American author and journalist. Leamer is a former Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and a former International Fellow at Columbia University. He is regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family and has appeared in numerous media outlets discussing American politics. Leamer has also written best-selling biographies of other Americans, including Johnny Carson, the Reagan family, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has also written a book about Donald Trump's historical resort, Mar-a-Lago. His book, Capote's Women, was a national bestseller, and was adapted as the second season of Feud starring Naomi Watts and directed by Gus Van Sant.

Darwin Porter is an American travel writer, producing numerous titles, mostly for the Frommer guidebook series, over a 50-year career span. In the 21st century, he became a pop culture journalist-historian, and celebrity biographer.

<i>Killing Reagan</i> 2015 popular history book

Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency is a book written by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard about the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1981. It is the fifth in the Killing series, following Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, and Killing Patton. The book was released on September 22, 2015, and topped The New York Times Best Sellers List.

Throughout his life, Frank Sinatra, the musician and actor, was involved in many different political activities in the United States. He also held positive views toward African Americans at a time when much of the United States still had segregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Virga</span> American writer

Vincent Virga is a gay American-born editor and writer. He is the author of the novels Gaywyck (1980), A Comfortable Corner (1982), and Vadriel Vail (2001). His life partner since 1964 is fellow writer James McCourt. McCourt's and Virga's papers are held at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

References

  1. ↑ "KITTY KELLEY DOING IT HER WAY". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ "404 Not Found". The Washington Post . March 27, 2019. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.{{cite news}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  3. ↑ Guardian Staff (October 24, 2004). "Claws out for kitty". The Observer. Retrieved March 30, 2019– via www.TheGuardian.com.
  4. 1 2 1992 International Year Book Covering the Year 1991, ed. Christine Grove, P. F. Collier, 1992, pg. 390
  5. 1 2 "Scratching Back at Kitty : POISON PEN: The Unauthorized Biography of Kitty Kelley, by George Carpozi Jr. (Barricade Books: $22; 368 pp.)". Los Angeles Times . September 8, 1991.
  6. ↑ Poison Pen by George Carpozi, Jr. pg. 26
  7. ↑ Carpozi pg. 38
  8. ↑ Carpozi pg. 40
  9. ↑ Carpozi pp. 335–340
  10. ↑ Carpozi pg. 45
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Crowley, Michael (September 15, 2004). "Kitty Kelley: Colonoscopist to the Stars". Slate. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
  12. 1 2 "The Family by Kitty Kelley". Randomhouse.com. March 23, 1998. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Kitty Kelley Wed To Michel Edgley". The New York Times. August 29, 1976. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  14. ↑ Hirshey, Gerri (October 31, 1988). "KITTY KELLEY DOING IT HER WAY" . Retrieved February 6, 2018– via www.washingtonpost.com.
  15. ↑ Bertodano, Helena de (November 15, 2010). "Kitty Kelley: the woman who dared to cross Oprah" . Retrieved February 6, 2018– via www.Telegraph.co.uk.
  16. ↑ Langer, Emily (December 29, 2011). "John E. Zucker, allergist known for daily pollen count, dies at 70" . Retrieved February 7, 2018– via www.WashingtonPost.com.
  17. ↑ Poison Pen by George Carpozi Jr. pg 140
  18. ↑ "Unauthorized, But Not Untrue – Kitty Kelley". The American Scholar . April 2, 2008. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  19. ↑ William Safire, "The Truth About Frank", The New York Times, September 29, 1986
  20. ↑ Kelley, Kitty (February 29, 1988). "The Dark Side of Camelot". People .
  21. ↑ Bruni, Frank (September 16, 2004). "For the Queen of Exposé, Four Walls That Won't Talk". The New York Times . Retrieved August 5, 2008.
  22. ↑
    • "In Make Believe: The Story of Nancy and Ronald Reagan (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), author Laurence Leamer told of an interview with Benny Thau's receptionist in which she stated that she "had orders that on Saturday morning Nancy was to be sent directly into Benny Thau's suite." Leamer later confided to this author (Kitty Kelley) and others that the receptionist had told him that she found "condoms in Thau's waste-basket after every visit from Nancy." Leamer said he did not include the information because his book was published in 1983, when Nancy Davis Reagan was First Lady of the United States. :I did not want to offend her," he said." — Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography
    • Leamer, Laurence (1983). Make-believe: The Story of Nancy and Ronald Reagan. Harper & Row.
  23. ↑ "Paying Lip Service". The Village Voice . February 10, 1998. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Why Are People Tweeting That Nancy Reagan Was the 'Throat Goat?'". www.vice.com. December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2021. Motherboard has been unable to verify these stories (of Reagan's personal life), but this set off an entire weekend of memes, videos, jokes, tweets, etc, about Nancy Reagan allegedly being very good at giving blowjobs.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑ Clemens, Samuel. "Jacquelyn Park: Hollywood's Most Controversial Star", Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen. January 31, 2023
  27. ↑ Goldberg, Bernard (2005). 100 People Who Are Screwing up America (paperback ed.). New York: Harper Collins. p.  99. ISBN   0-06-076129-6.
  28. ↑ Korda, Michael (1999). Another Life: A Memoir of Other People. Random House. pp.  465. ISBN   9780679456599. There was, however, one small fly in the ointment. I brought up the fact that I was already Kitty Kelley's editor (I had published her biography of Elizabeth Taylor), who was then working on what was supposed to be a sensational, unauthorized kiss-and-tell biography of Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan was known to be furiously apprehensive about the book. "I hope she gets hit by a truck," Mrs. Reagan was reported to have said about Kelley.
  29. ↑ "Oprah gets 'vicious' biographer". BBC News. December 14, 2006. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  30. ↑ Collins, Lauren (April 19, 2010). "Kitty Kelley takes on Oprah Winfrey". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  31. ↑ Shea, Danny (April 19, 2010). "Oprah Dismisses Kitty Kelley Book: 'So-Called Biography'". The Huffington Post.
  32. ↑ Greg Tobin (December 2, 2012). "The Kennedys". New York Times Book Review.
  33. ↑ "Kitty Kelley discusses Oprah bio". The Washington Post. April 28, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  34. 1 2 Maslin, Janet (April 11, 2010). "The Queen of Talk Declined to Speak". The New York Times.
  35. 1 2 Klein, Joe (September 20, 2004). "All You Have To Do Is Believe". Time . Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  36. ↑ "Q&A with Kitty Kelley". Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  37. ↑ "Governing Boards: Washington Independent Review of Books". Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  38. ↑ "The National Women's Health Resource Center Names Prominent Washington Business Leaders to Board of Directors". Healthy Women. January 24, 2008.
  39. ↑ "PEN Oakland Awards". Penoakland.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  40. ↑ "Awards History 20120401/0206E". ASJA.org. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  41. ↑ Online version is titled "A reparations movement begat at Georgetown".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.