Irv Kupcinet

Kupcinet was youngest of four children born to Russian Jewish immigrants in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. While attending Harrison Technical High School, he became editor of the school newspaper and the senior class president. He eventually won a football scholarship to Northwestern University, but a scuffle with another student led to his transferring to the University of North Dakota. ==Career==

Upon graduating from college, Kupcinet was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles football team in 1935. His football career was cut short due to a shoulder injury, which led him to take a job as a sports writer for the Chicago Daily Times in 1935. While writing his sports column, Kupcinet also wrote a short "People" section which became officially known as "Kup's Column." In 1952, Kupcinet became a pioneer in the television talk show genre when he landed his own talk show. In 1957, he was one of the set of hosts who replaced Steve Allen on The Tonight Show, before Jack Paar was brought in to change the program's format. Kupcinet's own series ran from 1959 until 1986 and was, at one point, syndicated to over 70 stations throughout the United States. The series garnered 15 Emmy Awards along with a Peabody Award. In addition to writing his newspaper column and talk-show hosting duties, from 1953 to 1976 Kupcinet provided commentary for radio broadcasts of Chicago Bears football games with Jack Brickhouse and was affectionately mocked for the signature phrase, "Dat's right, Jack". Film cameos Kupcinet made cameo appearances in two films directed by Otto Preminger – 1959's Anatomy of a Murder and the 1962 drama Advise and Consent. ==Awards and honors==

In 1982, Kupcinet was elected to Chicago's Journalism Hall of Fame. A plaque on the base of the statue includes a quote by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. ==Published works==

In 1988, Kupcinet published his autobiography, Kup: A Man, an Era, a City. ==Personal life==

Kupcinet met Esther "Essee" Solomon while she was a Northwestern student, and married her in 1939. The couple had two children; a daughter, Karyn in 1941, and a son, Jerry in 1944. was never solved. Before the murder, Irv Kupcinet had been aware of his daughter's close relationship with actor Andrew Prine, and the three of them had been photographed together at a public event in Los Angeles. Irv Kupcinet conferred with Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators and hired a private investigator, and he soon came to believe Prine had nothing to do with the murder. Sheriff's Department investigators never made an arrest. Irv Kupcinet's wife Essee died in 2001; they were married for 62 years. ==Death==

On November 10, 2003, Kupcinet died from respiratory complications from pneumonia at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in Chicago. He was 91 years old. He was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie. ==Filmography==