Rex Reed facts for kids

Rex Taylor Reed (born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, writer, and actor. He is famous for his strong, direct opinions about movies and celebrities.

Reed grew up in the southern United States and went to Louisiana State University. In the 1960s, he moved to New York City to start his career. He wrote about pop culture, art, and famous people for different newspapers and magazines. He also became a well-known TV personality and sometimes acted in movies.

For many years, Reed has written for the newspaper The New York Observer. He is known for his blunt writing style and for having opinions that often go against what most people think. Some of his reviews have been criticized for containing mistakes or for making unkind comments about actors.

Early Life and Education

Rex Reed was born on October 2, 1938, in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, James M. Reed, worked for an oil company. Because of his father's job, his family moved many times across the American South while he was growing up.

In 1960, he graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in journalism. While in college, he wrote movie and play reviews for the school's newspaper, The Daily Reveille, and a local newspaper in Baton Rouge.

After college, Reed moved to New York City. He hoped to become an actor but first got a job in the publicity department at the movie studio 20th Century Fox. He later said his job was to write positive things about stars like Elvis Presley. When the movie Cleopatra cost the company a lot of money, Reed lost his job.

He then started writing interviews for The New York Times and New York magazine. From 1966 to 1973, he also worked as a music critic for a magazine that is now called Sound & Vision.

Career as a Critic and Actor

Movie and TV Appearances

Reed has also worked as an actor. He appeared in the movie version of Myra Breckinridge (1970). He also had small parts in other films, including Superman (1978), Inchon (1981), and Irreconcilable Differences (1984).

In the late 1970s, he was often a judge on the TV game show The Gong Show. He also voiced a cartoon version of himself on the animated TV show The Critic. In 2009, Reed appeared in a documentary about film criticism called For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. In it, he talked about how important critics were in the 1970s.

Writing and Reviews

Before writing for The New York Observer, Reed was a film critic for famous magazines like Vogue and GQ. He also wrote for the New York Daily News and the New York Post. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. Reed has written eight books.

Reed is known for his very direct and sometimes harsh reviews. In 1974, he reviewed a performance by the singer Frank Sinatra. Reed wrote that Sinatra's appearance was sloppy and that his voice was no longer good. Years later, Reed said that Sinatra lost 25 pounds after the review.

Controversial Reviews

Over the years, some of Reed's reviews have caused a lot of discussion.

Comments on Actors

Rex Reed started a rumor about Marisa Tomei (pictured in 2009) after she won an Oscar for her role in My Cousin Vinny.

In 1986, Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, won an Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie Children of a Lesser God. Reed wrote that she only won because people felt sorry for her. He also said that a deaf person playing a deaf character wasn't real acting.

In 1992, Marisa Tomei won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny. Reed claimed that the presenter, Jack Palance, had read the wrong name by mistake. The Academy's accounting firm said this was not true. They explained that if a mistake ever happened, someone would immediately come on stage to correct it. Film critic Roger Ebert said Reed's theory was unfair to Tomei and that he should apologize.

In 2013, Reed wrote a review of the movie Identity Thief. In it, he made several comments about actress Melissa McCarthy's weight, calling her "tractor-sized" and "humongous." Many people, including other critics, felt his comments were mean and not a real review of her acting. Reed defended his comments, saying he was against using health issues like obesity for comedy.

Cultural Remarks and Factual Errors

Reed's reviews have also been criticized for being inaccurate or containing insensitive remarks.

• Oldboy (2005): In his review of the South Korean film Oldboy, he made a negative comment about kimchi, a traditional Korean food. Many people found his comment offensive to Korean culture.
• The Shape of Water (2017): In his review, he called people with disabilities "defective creatures." He also made mistakes about the director, Guillermo del Toro. He called him "Benecio del Toro" and said he was from Spain, but the director is from Mexico.
• The Cabin in the Woods (2012): His review of this film contained many factual errors about the plot. Critics pointed out that about half of his summary was incorrect.
• V/H/S/2 (2013): Reed wrote a review of this horror movie even though he walked out after only 20 minutes. His review was short and did not correctly describe the part of the movie he saw.
• Get Out (2017): He put this popular film on his "10 Worst Films of 2017" list. He later made a strange comment about the movie's plot, suggesting he did not understand it.

Personal Life

Since 1969, Reed has lived in an apartment at the Dakota, a famous apartment building in New York City.

Filmography