Featured Alumni: Bill Zehme
| January 3, 2017 |
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Bill Zehme describes his copy as 鈥渄elightfully haphazard.鈥�
Perhaps the phrase applies to his life as well.
The 1980 Loyola graduate鈥檚 eccentric Rogers Park apartment is cluttered with stacks of research from biography projects and piles of magazines鈥攕ome with his own byline inside. He meanders through a barrage of thoughts before circulating back to the reason why he began speaking, although his interest never fades. In spending most of his career interviewing popular culture鈥檚 most private stars, he has become sort of an elusive icon himself.
Zehme is famous for being granted exclusive interviews with celebrities that other writers find out of reach. He is best known for authoring 鈥淚ntimate Strangers: Comic Profiles and Indiscretions of the Very Famous鈥� as well as the biographies of legends Frank Sinatra, Andy Kaufman and Jay Leno.
His haphazard prose aims to emulate the feeling of his subjects so that his articles may offer a unique, intimate portrait of celebrities. This distinctive way of composing a story earned him the 2004 National Magazine Award for Profile Writing and the trust of underexposed stars.
Although, Zehme can鈥檛 exactly pinpoint how he achieved such notoriety.
鈥淟ife is a tidal wave. It鈥檚 a wave you鈥檙e caught in and the waves have just taken me where they鈥檝e taken me. I wrote something for Rolling Stone and then someone took a chance on me writing the cover story [about Robin Williams],鈥� he said.
In college, Zehme befriended John Slania, who graduated in 1979 and is now the School of Communication Associate Dean, much to Zehme鈥檚 shock. The two hosted an old-time radio show, called the 鈥淲LUW Radio Mystery Show,鈥� a hard-boiled detective serial complete with sound effects.
Shortly after graduating, or as Zehme prefers to call it, 鈥渆scaping,鈥� he wrote Slania, who was working as a newspaper reporter, asking if he knew of any job opportunities.
鈥淗ere鈥檚 a guy who wrote me a letter back in the early 鈥�80s asking for a job who ended up becoming this famous guy who wrote all these great books, had a talk show on TV [and] was on all the big shows,鈥� Slania said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 ironic that he would ever ask me for a job when I should be asking him for a job. He became the famous one.鈥�
Besides voicing characters at WLUW, Zehme was also involved in the Loyola Phoenix during his undergraduate career. Even then, he specialized in tracking down high-profile people in Chicago and also created a column titled 鈥淪nafu.鈥�
鈥淗e did these really amazing articles, particularly one on Playboy interviewing Hugh Heffner,鈥� Slania said. 鈥淗e was just a really funny, really creative guy.鈥�
But Zehme鈥檚 unconventional ways and distaste for structure often made him feel frustrated with the limitations of being a student. Deadlines continue to plague him in his adult life, as they tend to hinder the creative process.
鈥淚鈥檓 generally an abuser of deadlines,鈥� Zehme said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so late with this Johnny Carson [biography] it鈥檚 like I鈥檓 setting a new record for being late with a book. At this point I鈥檓 looking at the Guinness Book of World Records to see how many years it will have to be before I [set the record.] 鈥�
Zehme signed a contract to write Carson鈥檚 biography 11 years ago. Among other delays, Zehme spent a few years being a full-time patient, unexpectedly, and had to put the book on hold.
鈥淎t this point, a world record is something to shoot for鈥t is the best way to accomplish something with regard to this project,鈥� he said.
In addition to delving back in to Carson鈥檚 biography, Zehme is currently writing profiles for Chicago magazine; it is actually the first time he has written for a local monthly magazine rather than a national one. Previously, he was employed by Playboy, Esquire and Rolling Stone, to name a few.
Zehme, the professional profiler, struggles to describe his own complexity.
鈥淚 have the disposition of a psychoanalyst,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can talk to people. I like to ask questions. I like to fathom what it鈥檚 like to be them. You have to be very empathic. You have to be ready to understand what people are about. I strike some sort of a balance where I can play with people and at the same time, ideally, they reveal things about themselves.鈥�
With his profiles, Zehme tries to tap into larger sociological mysteries.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like these people are a palate and I go and make these paintings of their personality. Why do we care about some of these people? It says something about all of us. And I learned everybody鈥檚 a little [messed up]; everybody鈥檚 got something鈥攕ome little thing that motivates them and frightens them,鈥� said Zehme, all in one single, delightfully haphazard exhale of words.