Fink, Mitchell

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Fink, Mitchell

PERSONAL:

Married Lois Mathias.

ADDRESSES:

CAREER:

Journalist. Record World, editor, beginning 1970; Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Los Angeles, CA, music columnist, beginning 1978, then reporter for entertainment, politics, investigative reporting, sports, and hard news, and gossip columnist, 1987-89; KTTV Fox Entertainment News, Los Angeles, CA, celebrity reporter, worked for four years; People, "Insider" columnist and creator, 1990-98; CNN's Showbiz Today, regular contributor, worked for six years; New York Daily News, New York, NY, gossip columnist and column creator, 1998-2002. Also contributed celebrity news on-air with Access Hollywood, CBS Morning News, and New York's WCBS-TV.

WRITINGS:

(Editor of stories told to Joe Smith) Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1988.

(With wife, Lois Mathias) Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, Miramax Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Classic Papers in Critical Care, Springer (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mitchell Fink got his start as a journalist in 1970 after getting a job as a music editor with Record World. By 1978 he started working with the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, initially as a music columnist after gaining experience and exposure with his previous position with Record World. He later began to branch out, covering stories on a range of topics from entertainment and sports to politics and hard news. He also undertook some investigative reporting. In 1987, however, he settled on celebrity news, becoming the periodical's gossip columnist until the Los Angeles Herald Examiner folded in 1989.

Fink was not out of a job for long. He landed a position as a celebrity reporter with Los Angeles' KTTV Fox Entertainment News, a position he held for four years. Fink also began working with People magazine in 1990. He created the magazine's "Insider" celebrity news column and wrote it until 1998. The column quickly became one of the magazine's more popular sections. Fink also moved into national television media, appearing as a regular contributor to CNN's Showbiz Today for six years. Other credits include Access Hollywood, the CBS Morning News, and New York's WCBS-TV.

In 1998 Fink began working with the New York Daily News, again creating and writing for the periodical's gossip column. He held this position only until 2002 but received a reference for his work in national popular culture. After publishing several plot lines from the popular HBO television program the Sopranos in his column, he angered the show's executive producer. In retaliation, a brief part of one of the episodes uses his column page in the New York Daily News as a cover for a naked homeless man.

Aside from his contribution to periodicals and magazines, Fink has written several books. He published his first book, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, in 1988, which he edited based on stories told to Joe Smith. In 2002 Fink and his wife, Lois Mathias, published Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that hit the United States the previous year.

In 2006 Fink published The Last Days of Dead Celebrities. The book shows how celebrities, including John Lennon, Ted Williams, Orson Welles, and Lucille Ball, were feeling and what they were thinking at the time of their deaths. Booklist contributor Mike Tribby commented that Fink "imparts insight into" dying as a celebrity with the public watching. Tribby concluded that this book is "truly the last word in celebrity biography."

Fink went on to publish Classic Papers in Critical Care in 2008.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 2006, Mike Tribby, review of The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, p. 17.

Editor & Publisher, December 26, 1987, M.L. Stein, "Columnist Says He Doesn't Want Joan Rivers' Reward," p. 20.

Maclean's, June 19, 2006, Brian Bethune, review of The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, p. 39.

New York Times, February 19, 2001, Jim Rutenberg, "Daily News Columnist Squeals ‘Sopranos’ Plots," p. 7.

New York Times Book Review, March 5, 1989, Sharon Liveten, review of Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, p. 23.

Oral History Review, March 22, 1990, Philip Furia, review of Off the Record, p. 151.

People, January 22, 1990, Elizabeth P. Valk, "Publisher's Letter," p. 6; February 9, 1998, Tom Cunneff, "People Contributing Editor Mitchell Fink," p. 39.

Publishers Weekly, October 14, 1988, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Off the Record, p. 60.

Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2002, "Never Forget," p. 11.

Washington Post Book World, May 27, 2007, Rachel Hartigan Shea, review of The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, p. 11.