Leonard Maltin

Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline (née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002), a lawyer and immigration judge.

Maltin was raised in a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author.

He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968.

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.

Maltin earned a journalism degree at New York University.

Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide.

He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014.

Maltin wrote Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and was annually updated from October 1987 until September 2014, each edition having the following year's date.

Its original title was TV Movies, and some editions were Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide.

In the 1970s Maltin also reviewed recordings in the jazz magazine Downbeat.

Maltin served as the film critic for Playboy for six years based on Roger Ebert's suggestion.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Maltin served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute.

Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010.

He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies.

He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry.

He has written books on animation and the history of film.

He has also hosted numerous specials and provided commentary for several films.

In 2021, he released his memoir, Star Lucky: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood.

He received the Robert Osborne Award from Turner Classic Movies in 2022.

Starting on May 29, 1982, Maltin was the film reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight for 30 years.

He praised the Tournee of Animation (alongside the Los Angeles International Animation Celebration ) on the show at one point or another.

He also appeared 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).

Maltin also hosted a television show called Secret's Out on ReelzChannel network.

He also wrote the introduction for The Complete Peanuts: 1983–1984.

In 1985, he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000.

The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000", the instrumental melody interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing (part of the original recording), 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!"

In the mid-1990s, Maltin 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.

In 1990, he took a look at the MGM years of The Three Stooges in a film called The Lost Stooges, available on a made-to-order DVD through the Warner Archive Collection.

Maltin also appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), playing a film critic who blasts the first Gremlins film, but is attacked by the Gremlins.

This scene echoed real life, as Maltin gave the first film a bad review, finding it mean-spirited, which affected his friendship with director Joe Dante.

The scene was spoofed in the Mad magazine parody of Gremlins 2, in which he protests being eaten as Roger Ebert gives a worse review of the film, only for the Gremlins to remark they are waiting until Thanksgiving to find Ebert, as "he will feed a family of 15!".

He also spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, and continued to provide creative input and host the various sets.

In 2005, coverage of many films released no later than 1960 was moved into a spin-off volume, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, 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 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.

Maltin left Entertainment Tonight in 2010.

His final appearance on the show as a regular correspondent was on July 19, 2010.

As of 2018, Maltin teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.