Art Buchwald - Biography

Journalist, born in Mount Vernon, New York, USA. Starting as a columnist for the European edition of the Herald Tribune covering the lighter side of Paris life, he later moved to Washington, DC with his syndicated column of wry humour, eventually appearing in some 550 papers worldwide.

Arthur "Art" Buchwald (born October 20, 1925) is an American humorist best known for his long-running column in The Washington Post newspaper, which concentrates on political satire and commentary.

Buchwald is also known for the Buchwald v. Buchwald claimed Paramount had stolen his script idea. The case was the subject of a 1992 book, Fatal Subtraction: The Inside Story of Buchwald V.

In February, 2006, Buchwald checked himself into in a Washington, D.C.

In June, 2006, Buchwald was again interviewed by Diane Rehm after leaving the hospice.

In July, 2006, Buchwald returned to his summer home on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, a place he never expected to see again.

Biography

Art Buchwald is the son of Joseph Buchwald, a curtain manufacturer, and has three sisters Alice, Edith and Doris.

He wanted to join the Marines but was too young so he lied about his age and bribed a drunk with half a pint of whisky to sign as his legal guardian.

On his return, Buchwald enrolled at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on the G.I.

In 1948 he left USC, without having earned a degree, and bought a one-way ticket to Paris. Eventually, Buchwald got a job as a correspondent for Variety Magazine in Paris. In January 1949, he took a sample column, on which he had been working, to the offices of the European edition of The New York Herald Tribune. Buchwald was hired and joined the editorial staff. His column caught on quickly, and Buchwald followed it in 1951 with another column, Mostly About People. The column in which Buchwald explains Thanksgiving Day to the French people in 1953 is reprinted every November with ceremonial regularity. On August 24, 1959, TIME magazine, in reviewing the history of the European edition of The Herald Tribune, reported that Buchwald’s column had achieved an "institutional quality."

During this particular time, while in Paris, he became the only correspondent to substantively interview Elvis Presley, both at the Prince de Galles Hotel, where the soon-to-be Sgt. Presley was staying during a week-end off from his Army stint in Germany, as well in places like "Le Lido", where Buchwald witnessed, first hand, Presley's interaction and that of his entourage, with the girls at the world's most famous nightclub. Presley's impromptu performance at the piano, as well as his singing for the showgirls after most of the customers had left the nightclub, became legendary following its inclusion in Buchwald's bestselling book, "I'll always have Paris".

Buchwald returned to the United States in 1962 and is at present syndicated by Tribune Media Services.

Buchwald has written some 30 books, including Leaving Home (Putnam, 1994); Buchwald's most recent book, Beating Around the Bush (Seven Stories, 2005) is a collection of his newspaper columns.

Buchwald has three children and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

In 2000, at age 74, Buchwald suffered a stroke that left him in the hospital for over 2 months.

On February 16, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Buchwald had had a leg amputated below the knee and was staying at Washington Home and Hospice.

Buchwald seized on a unique opportunity during his stay at the Washington Home. He invited Diane Rehm to interview him, which served as what people from the fields of hospice and palliative care would call a "life review."

Buchwald was later interviewed with Miles O'Brien of CNN in a segment aired on March 31, 2006. Buchwald discussed his living will, which documents his wishes for his doctors not to save him if he falls into a coma. As of the date of this interview, Buchwald was still writing a periodic column.

Buchwald was interviewed by FOX News' Chris Wallace for a segment on Sunday, May 14, 2006's edition of FOX News Sunday

Once again a Buchwald interview with Diane Rehm aired on her show on June 7, 2006. After his interview with her earlier in the year, friends and well wishers contacted him to offer thanks and say good bye. In a strange turn, as baffling to his doctors as to himself, Buchwald's kidneys began working again.

On November 3, 2006, Kyra Phillips interviewed Buchwald for CNN. Phillips had known Buchwald since interviewing him as a college student in 1989.