Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin (born
December 18,
1950) is a widely known
American film critic.
Maltin was born in
New York City. He began his writing career at age 15, editing and publishing the
Film Fan Monthly. After receiving a journalism degree at
New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, national newspapers, and magazines, including
Variety and
TV Guide.
As an author, Maltin is best known for
Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and has been annually updated since October 1987.
He has also written several other works, including
Behind the Camera, a study of the art of cinematography,
The Whole Film Sourcebook,
Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, and
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.Since the 1980s, Maltin has had a regular spot on the syndicated television series
Entertainment Tonight. He also appears on the
Starz cable network and hosted his own syndicated radio program,
Leonard Maltin on Video, as well as the syndicated TV show
Hot Ticket with Boston film critic
Joyce Kulhawik (originally
E! personality and game show host
Todd Newton).
In the mid-1990s, he became the president of the
Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the Advisory Board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly a decade, Maltin was also on the faculty of the
New School for Social Research in
New York City. He currently teaches in the
School of Cinema-Television at the
University of Southern California.
In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought on by former child star
Billy Gray, of
Father Knows Best fame, whom Maltin identified as a drug user and dealer when reviewing Gray's performance in an entry review for
Dusty and Sweets McGee in the movie guide book. The alleged libelous statement appeared in print for nearly 25 years before Maltin made a public apology for the error. Since then, all movie guide book entries for
Dusty and Sweets McGee, which Maltin gives three-and-a-half stars, contain no listing of the actors in the film.
Leonard Maltin was portrayed in an episode of the animated comedy
South Park called
Mecha-Streisand where Maltin, along with actor
Sidney Poitier and singer
Robert Smith, fought and defeated
Barbra Streisand, who had assumed the form of Mecha-Streisand.
He also appeared as himself in
Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In a short segment, he gives a bad review of the first film (
Gremlins) as several of the creatures creep up on him and strangle him to death. He also made an appearance on the cartoon show
Freakazoid where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters. Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on
Mystery Science Theater 3000; he was forced by
Pearl Forrester to retract his endorsement of the film
Gorgo. Additionally, his curious rating of two-and-a-half stars to the film
Laserblast is the source of much debate in the MST3K episode featuring that film.
In
The Simpsons episode
A Star is Burns Marge says "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?". Lisa replies "Ewwww!" [
1]
In the 2005 video release of the
Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with Leonard Maltin included at the start of the movies.
*
Leonard Maltin's official site*
Leonard Maltin's bio courtesy of ET Online*
What's Wrong with Leonard Maltin? by Michael Dare
*
Leonard! - a game, inspired by
Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, on ABC Radio 702 (Sydney, Australia)
