Rex Reed, razor witted film critic who courted controversy, dies at 87
Rex Reed, the razor witted critic whose barbed reviews and biting profiles made him both feared and celebrated in Hollywood and Broadway circles, died Tuesday at his Manhattan home. He was 87.
William Kapfer, Reed’s longtime friend, confirmed his death.
No cause of death was given yet.
Reed exploded onto the movie criticism scene in the 1960s and was part of a new wave of writers alongside Pauline Kael who rejected staid analysis for something sharper, jazzier, and more personal.
His timing was impeccable: cinema itself was breaking barriers, and Reed’s prose mirrored the era’s ‘sexier, edgier’ energy, as described by Variety.
His stylishly written profiles of stars like Barbra Streisand, Ava Gardner, and Buster Keaton appeared in The New York Times, GQ, Esquire, and Vogue.
His first book, Do You Sleep in the Nude?, cemented his reputation as a critic unafraid to probe beyond the polished veneer of celebrity.
But Reed’s career was defined as much by controversy as acclaim.
Over four decades at the New York Observer, he sparked outrage with aggressive takes.
He dismissed Marlee Matlin’s Oscar win as a “pity vote,” ridiculed Melissa McCarthy as “tractor sized,” and sneered at Korean cinema with a notorious review of Oldboy.
He even fueled the rumor that Jack Palance misread Marisa Tomei’s name at the Oscars.
But Reed defended his approach.
He told The New York Times in 2018, “I like just as many films as I dislike. But I think we’re drowning in mediocrity. I just try as hard as I can to raise the level of consciousness.”
Beyond the page, Reed stepped into the spotlight himself.
He appeared in Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckinridge, earning savage notices, and popped up in films like Superman and Irreconcilable Differences.
On television, he was a fixture on The Dick Cavett Show and The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, delivering unvarnished takes.
Merciless, stylish, and unapologetically provocative, Rex Reed leaves behind a memorable legacy.
