From The Vault Of Art Shay: Remembering LeRoy Neiman
By Art Shay in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 21, 2012 7:40PM
(Ed. Note: We have a bonus post from Art Shay this week. Today Art reflects on artist LeRoy Neiman, who passed away Tuesday. Art and Neiman worked together during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.—CS)
LeRoy Neiman was, along with OJ Simpson and Howard Cosell, the most colorful of my fellow ABC-TV employees working the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. LeRoy and I hit it off immediately because he liked my Life magazine approach to covering him and his work.
A white suit, pimpish black fedora, soup-strainer moustache, and a brisk, precise eye for sports were his hallmarks. When I turned down payment for a few pictures he liked, he said, "Let's trade" and sat me down for this portrait.
I was flattered to be called his "main man" at the Olympics. His intimates there were the Ethel and Caroline Kennedy family, a succession of shapely, exotic fans, and—on a tight schedule—his beautiful wife.
I hope she was bequeathed some of the ten or so million bucks a year he was/is reputed to make. When I admired his wipe rag, colorfully redolent of his beloved pastels, he gave it to me with a flattering phrase and signature. I think his repute, hampered by his efficacy and speed, will grow and grow...
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