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'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.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Career

Popular culture appearances

References

External links

Biography

Personal life

Maltin was born in New York City to Jacqueline Gould, a singer, and Aaron Isaac Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge.^[1] He is married to Alice Tlusty, a researcher and producer. He has one daughter, Jessie Maltin who is 21. Maltin is Jewish.^[2]

Career

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 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.) 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 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.
He currently hosts a television show entitled ''Secret's Out'' on the ReelzChannel movie network. Guests on the program have included Anthony Anderson, Bill Paxton, Samantha Mathis, and Mario Van Peebles.

Popular culture appearances

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 ''. 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. (In his guide, Maltin's three-star review of the movie noted that it contained "gratuitous cameo appearances.") He also made an appearance on the cartoon show ''Freakazoid!'' where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters.
Maltin appeared as himself in the ''Freakazoid!'' episode "The Island of Dr. Mystico". Maltin had starred on an episode of ''Entertainment Tonight'', where he was presenting a time machine akin to one in the H.G. Wells novel and film ''The Time Machine''. He sits in the machine and then vanishes, as did the character in the story.
Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''; during a Season Nine episode, he was forced by Pearl Forrester to retract his endorsement of the film ''Gorgo''. In an earlier episode featuring ''The Undead'', Mike Nelson impersonates Maltin and apologizes to viewers for his good review, saying he must have been on drugs. 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!"^[3]
In the 1995 video release of the ''Star Wars'' trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Leonard Maltin included before the start of the movies.
Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review. His 2 out of 4 star review of the 1948 musical ''Isn't It Romantic?'' consists of the word "No". In 1985 he delivered a three-word movie review on ''Entertainment Tonight'' for that year's horror film spoof, ''Transylvania 6-5000''. In 2004 he delivered a five-word review for ''. His 2 out of 4 star review consisted of the statement "It is what it is."The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000"; in the song the instrumental melody is interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: "''Transylvania 6-5000'' ... stinks!"

References

1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/95/Leonard-Maltin.html
2. http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/981225/films.shtml
3. http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F31

External links

★ 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)