LEONARD MALTIN Biography - People in the News and Media

 
 

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LEONARD MALTIN

Name: Leonard Maltin                                                               
Born: 18 December 1950                                                             
                                                                                   
Leonard Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film       
historian. He has authored numerous mainstream books on the cinema, focusing on   
nostalgic, celebratory narratives.                                                 
                                                                                   
Maltin was born in New York City to Jacqueline Gould, a singer, and Aaron Isaac   
Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge. He is married to Alice Tlusty, a           
researcher and producer. He has one daughter, Jessie Maltin, born in 1986.         
Maltin is Jewish. He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from           
Teaneck High School.                                                               
                                                                                   
Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for Classic Images and         
editing and publishing his own fanzine, Film Fan Monthly, dedicated to films       
from the golden age of Hollywood. 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, TV Guide and     
Good Times.                                                                       
                                                                                   
As an author, Maltin is best known for Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, (some         
editions titled as his ...Movie and Video Guide), a compendium of synopses and     
reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and has been annually updated       
since October 1987. (It was published under the title TV Movies until the 1990s,   
and in 2005 spawned a spin-off, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, limited to   
films released in 1960 and earlier to allow the regular book to cover a larger     
number of more recent titles.) 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, Our Gang: The Life and       
Times of the Little Rascals, and Of Mice and Magic: A History of American         
Animated Cartoons.                                                                 
                                                                                   
Since May 29, 1982, Maltin has been the movie reviewer 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). He also spearheaded   
the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, and       
continues to provide creative input and host the various sets.                     
                                                                                   
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 Cinematic Arts   
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 in     
his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee for the movie guide book. The       
allegedly libelous statement appeared in print for nearly 25 years before Maltin   
made a public apology for the error. Since then, all editions of Maltin's         
movie guide, which rates the film at three and a half stars, contain no           
indication of actors in that movie.                                               
                                                                                   
He currently hosts a television show entitled Secret's Out on the ReelzChannel     
movie network. Guests on the program have included Chris Klein, Josh Brolin,       
Allison Janney, Adam Goldberg, Sarah Polley, Garry Marshall, Anthony Anderson,     
Bill Paxton, Samantha Mathis, Mario Van Peebles, and director James Mangold.