James Brady, who died Tuesday at the age of 80, embodied in his life the good and bad sides of fame and celebrity journalism.

On the one hand, for nearly 25 years Brady wrote the "In Step With..." column in Parade magazine (seen in hundreds of newspapers, including The Salt Lake Tribune). In that column, he wrote glowingly about stars of movies, TV and sports. (His last column, profiling Kevin Bacon, will appear Feb. 15.)

But before that, Brady was the first editor of Page Six, the famous - and sometimes infamous - gossip column of The New York Post. According to the Post's glowing obituary, Brady only had the job for a day before owner Rupert Murdoch promoted him. But Brady always claimed credit for creating the form, and so must accept some responsibility for Page Six's reputation for nastiness, score-settling and sleaze.