Earl Wilson (1907-1987) was an American journalist and gossip columnist who wrote the nationally syndicated column "It Happened Last Night" from 1942 until his retirement in 1983. The column, published in the New York Post, covered American celebrity gossip and the night life of New York City. Wilson graduated from the Ohio State University in 1931 with a bachelor's degree in journalism, where he wrote for the student-run newspaper, The Lantern. During his time in Columbus, he also worked for the Columbus Dispatch and the Columbus International News Service Bureau. In 1935, Wilson began work at The Washington Post, and moved to New York City later that year where he began writing for the New York Post. In 1942, Wilson took over the "It Happened Last Night" column from a writer who left to serve in World War II, later changing the name of the column to "Last Night with Earl Wilson." Wilson was also the author of three books about celebrities and the culture of show business, including The Show Business Nobody Knows, published in 1971; Show Business Laid Bare, published in 1974, which revealed the extramarital affairs of President John F. Kennedy; and the 1976 biography of Frank Sinatra, Sinatra: An Unauthorized Biography.