Rex, Maximilian Schell and ‘Valley of the Dolls’ novelist Jacqueline (Jackie) Susann in 1974. Penske Media via Getty Images On February 12, 2022, I interviewed Rex Reed in his apartment for my podcast about aging showbiz legends, “The Originals.” Though I’d worked for the New York Observer in the late nineties, I’d never met Rex or seen him before in the flesh—like fellow columnist Peter Bogdanovich, he wisely steered clear of the grubby, overcrowded Upper East Side townhouse HQ.