Joe Hyams

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Not to be confused with Jo Heims.
Joseph Hyams
Denver, Colorado
, U.S.
Occupation(s)Syndicated columnist, author
Spouse(s)4, including
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1993)​

Melissa Hyams (m. 1994)
Children4

Joe Hyams (June 6, 1923 – November 8, 2008) was an American Hollywood columnist and author of bestselling biographies of Hollywood stars.

Career

Hyams was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 6, 1923, and grew up in nearby Brookline. While attending Harvard University, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1942. He received a Purple Heart and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal while serving in the South Pacific. He later covered the war for Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the United States Armed Forces. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at New York University, after returning from military service.[1]

In 1951, the

syndicated columnist from 1951 to 1964.[1]

After leaving the Herald Tribune, Hyams covered Hollywood for the

Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook and other publications.[1]

He was the author (or co-author) of more than two-dozen books, most of which were biographies of the celebrities he covered, including Bogie in 1966, Bogart & Bacall: A Love Story in 1975 and James Dean: Little Boy Lost in 1992. He co-authored celebrity autobiographies, with Chuck Norris on The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story and worked on Michael Reagan: On the Outside Looking In, with the adopted son of the former President. His own autobiography, Mislaid in Hollywood, was written in 1973. He also wrote novels set in Hollywood, such as The Pool and Murder at the Academy Awards.[1]

His 1979 book Zen in the Martial Arts was built on his many years of studying martial arts with such figures as

Jewish. After the war he became a student of kenpo karate and studied Jeet Kune Do with Bruce Lee, as well as becoming proficient in eight other martial arts disciplines.[2] Melissa Hyams said the slim book "isn't really about martial arts. It's about life and philosophy, and how to turn a negative into a positive, how to defuse a situation by the way you handle it. That's what he'll most be remembered for." [3]

With

penologist Tom Murton, he wrote Accomplices to the Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal, a 1969 nonfiction account that was the basis for the 1980 film Brubaker starring Robert Redford with supporting roles played by Yaphet Kotto and Morgan Freeman

In 1991 he wrote the non-fiction work Flight of the Avenger: George Bush at War.[1]

Personal life

His third marriage was to 24-year-old actress Elke Sommer in November 1964 in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas.[4]

Hyams had been a longtime resident of Los Angeles and moved to Penrose, Colorado, three years before his death. He died at age 85 on November 8, 2008, from coronary artery disease at a hospital in Denver, leaving his fourth wife Melissa, two sons, and two daughters.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f McLellan, Dennis. "Joe Hyams dies at 85; former Hollywood columnist, bestselling author", Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2008. Accessed November 12, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "Joe Hyams". The Telegraph.
  3. ^ "Ex-Hollywood columnist was a bestselling author". Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2008.
  4. ^ Staff. Married, Time, November 27, 1964. Accessed November 12, 2008.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_Hyams&oldid=1186571554"