STEVE DUNLEAVY
Barnstorming journalist Steve Dunleavy, one of Australia’s finest cultural exports, has died in New York at 81.
Barnstorming journalist Steve Dunleavy, one of Australia’s finest cultural exports, has died in New York at 81.
“Steve Dunleavy was one of the greatest reporters of all time,” said Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Post.
“Whether competing with his own father in the famous Sydney, Australia, tabloid wars, or over the last 40 years in New York, Steve’s life story is littered with great scoops. He was much loved by both his colleagues and editors.”
“His passing is the end of a great era,” Murdoch added.
Over the course of his epic career, Dunleavy scored countless exclusives, including interviews with the mother of Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, and confessed “Boston Strangler” Albert DeSalvo. The rapist also posed in the nude for Dunleavy, who had smuggled a camera into prison for the story.
Dunleavy’s exploits were frequently and entertainingly informed by alcohol:
Veteran Post columnist Steve Cuozzo recalled the time Dunleavy phoned the newsroom on a Saturday morning and told the assistant who answered, “Mate, this is Dunleavy. Take down this number.”After reciting the digits, Dunleavy had the assistant repeat them to him.
“Great. Now call me back and tell me where I am,” Dunleavy replied.
I once introduced Steve to my wife. On hearing her very Italian name, he immediately called her a guinea wop dago then launched into an astonishingly scholarly history of the mafia in New York. A little later he serenaded her with a medley of show tunes.
Steve Dunleavy was a terrific bloke.
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