Jimmy Breslin: Columns so good nobody had thought of anything like them

One of the greatest movies ever made features Jimmy Breslin, though the great New York columnist, who died over the weekend aged 88, doesn’t even appear on screen.

In When Harry Met Sally, Jess (Bruno Kirby), a New York columnist himself, refers to Breslin admiringly. Sally (Meg Ryan) says she doesn’t care for him.

“Well, he’s the reason I became a writer,” says Jess. “But that’s not important.” Breslin had the kind of career, and impact, that seems impossible now beyond a movie bathed in nostalgic sepia.