Jim Paratore, 58, Co-Creator of TMZ, Dies Jim Paratore, a television executive and producer who was instrumental in helping Ellen DeGeneres overcome antigay bias in getting her own talk show and who partnered with Harvey Levin to create the entertainment Web site TMZ and its daily television show, died on Tuesday while bicycling in France. He was 58. The cause was a heart attack, Warner Brothers said. As the top executive of Telepictures Productions and later with his own company, Paramedia, Mr. Paratore supplied a string of successful informational and entertainment shows to local stations, a business that has less cachet than national broadcast television but often much greater profits. While at Telepictures, a division of Warner Brothers, Mr. Paratore helped sell "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," "The People's Court," "The Tyra Banks Show," "Judge Mathis" and other series to local stations. He was perhaps best known for his work on the TMZ Web site and show, which broke ground in coverage of the legal and personal battles of entertainment stars, and for his personal backing of Ms. DeGeneres as a daytime talk-show host. Ms. DeGeneres was, by her own account, at a turning point in her career after becoming one of the first television stars to come out as gay. She was attracted to the offer of a daytime show but learned that many local station managers opposed the idea. "I was not an easy sale; they were telling me I couldn't relate to housewives," Ms. DeGeneres said in a telephone interview on Thursday. Jim wouldn't accept that. Mr. Paratore suggested that Ms. DeGeneres go back on tour as a stand-up comedian, something she was reluctant to do. "We went all around the country," she said, "and in every city Jim would bring out the station managers to see me." Once they did, they began to sign on to the show, she said. "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" has now run for a decade. "Jim is really responsible for my career," Ms. DeGeneres said. TMZ grew out of Mr. Paratore's relationship with Mr. Levin. They had tried a syndicated show called "Celebrity Justice," and when that failed they conceived a 24-hour celebrity news operation. But they faced one challenge: how to cover stories that might damage their parent company, Warner Brothers. When the TMZ team dug up scandalous information about the marriage of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, the star of the comedy "Two and a Half Men," owned by Warner Brothers, Mr. Paratore got them past that hurdle, Mr. Levin said. "This was two days before Warner was taking the show out to sale in syndication," Mr. Levin said. Jim said the news was going to get out anyway, so go with it. Mr. Levin said he and Mr. Paratore were full partners in the creation and production on both the TMZ Web site and the show. "He was the ultimate strategist," Mr. Levin said. The TMZ Web site is now seven years old, and the television show has now been on the air for five years. James Conrad Paratore was born Aug. 13, 1953, in New Orleans and was a graduate of Loyola University. He is survived by his wife, Jill Wickert; his mother, Norma Paratore; a sister, Nancy; and a daughter, Martinique Paratore. "Jim was a great businessman, but he had no ego," Mr. Levin said, "Our mantra was: the best idea wins."