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.

Popular culture appearances

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 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.

In the Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns" Lisa says "By the standards of movie critics, Leonard Maltin is considered handsome".

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)

1950 births | Living people | American film critics | Jewish American writers | Infotainers | People from New York City | Leonard Maltin | Leonard Maltin | Leonard Maltin