(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago author Bill Zehme, who died Sunday at age 64, is being remembered as the "master of the celebrity profile."
Zehme, who grew up in South Holland and graduated from Loyola University, was known for interviewing the A-listers: Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Warren Beatty, Andy Kaufman, Eddie Murphy and Jay Leno.
Zehme was the last person to interview Johnny Carson. He wrote for Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vanity Fair and Playboy.
One of his biographies was on Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
Hefner's daughter Christie told the Sun-Times that Zehme “literally skipped a chemotherapy session to speak at my dad’s memorial.”
“He’s been battling cancer for years, heroically. This is one of those moments where you feel grateful someone you care about is at peace,” she said.
The Sun-Times says that writer-director Cameron Crowe praised Zehme as the "King of the First Sentence."
“Like a great tour guide," Crowe wrote, "(Zehme) beckons you into the inner sanctum, whispering in your ear with a comic and sometimes poignant voice that says this is just between us.”
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