St. Clair McKelway

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

St. Clair McKelway, a writer and editor at The New Yorker Magazine, is the author of five nonfiction books, one published posthumously: Reporting at Wit’s End: Tales from the New Yorker (2010), The Big Little Man from Brooklyn (1969), The Edinburgh Caper: A One-Man International Plot (1962), True Tales from the Annals of Crime and Rascality (1951), and Gossip: The Life and Times of Walter Winchell (1940).

The movie Mister 880 (1950) was adapted from one of his essays. In addition, in 1948 he wrote the screenplays for Sleep My Love and The Mating of Millie.

McKelway moved with his family to DC at age 4, and attended Western High School (now the Duke Ellington School of the Arts). He began his newspaper career as a messenger at The Washington Herald, and later wrote for New York World and the New York Herald Tribune before joining the New Yorker staff. McKelway served in WWII as a public relations officer, stationed in Guam. He was married five times.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.