In Hollywood, this guy was not an average Joe

Joe Hyams, a former Hollywood columnist and best-selling author of books ranging from biographies of Humphrey Bogart and James Dean to a popular tome on Eastern philosophy, has died. He was 85.

A former West Coast bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune who once was married to actress Elke Sommer, Hyams covered Hollywood as a syndicated columnist from 1951 to 1964. He then continued chronicling Hollywood for the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook and other magazines for several more years.

"He was a Hollywood insider," movie producer David Permut, a longtime friend, told The Times on Tuesday. "Everybody knew Joe, and he knew everybody. He was a great wit, a great guy."

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--Dennis McLellan

Photo of Hyams (left) with Gene Kelly (right): Joe Hyams Collection.