Jay Sharbutt; Covered Wars, Arts for The Times and AP

Jay Sharbutt, a fun-loving iconoclast whose labors in the trenches of journalism took him from the shadows of war in Vietnam and the Middle East to the bright lights of Broadway and Hollywood, has died of a heart attack.

The Associated Press in New York, where Sharbutt most recently worked, said his body was discovered Wednesday in his Brooklyn apartment by a colleague who was sent there when Sharbutt failed to report for work. He was 51.

He had suffered a heart attack last year while in Saudi Arabia to cover the Persian Gulf War.

Before rejoining the wire service in 1989, he had worked for six years for the Los Angeles Times. Peter Boyer, a former colleague and now a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, remembered him as a “brilliant, happy and funny guy.”

Sharbutt was a treasured relic from an era in journalism when smoking, drinking and irreverence were almost prerequisites for membership in the nation’s press corps.

He was the son of Del Sharbutt, who served as an announcer for “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” “Your Hit Parade” and other shows of radio’s golden age. His mother, Meri Bell Sharbutt, was a singer for NBC, CBS and other studio orchestras. Sharbutt attended Fordham University and then went to work at the Lakeland Ledger and the Orlando Sentinel in Florida.

He worked in the Associated Press’ Washington bureau for a year, and then was assigned to Vietnam.

“He liked being out with the troops,” recalled Associated Press Special Correspondent George Esper. He would tote his guitar into the battle zone, and write parodies on the spot and sing them to the soldiers.

Later, he transferred to the Los Angeles bureau, took a six-month detour to work as a newsman for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, then returned to the Associated Press in New York for his first tour as TV writer.

He held that job from 1972 to 1978, and left it to serve first as Associated Press drama critic and then as a television reporter for the Los Angeles Times. In 1989, he returned to the Associated Press and his old job covering television.

To TV criticism he brought a biting wit and a flair for phrases that produced memorable copy. His quest for adventure drove him to volunteer for the Gulf War, where he took along not only the junk food he craved daily but also cartons of milk and candy bars for Kuwaiti children.

When he suffered the heart attack last year, he called the Associated Press office in Dhahran from his hotel room and said: “I think I’m finished with this story. I’m having a heart attack.”

Survivors include his daughter, Julie Christine, his father, a brother and sister.