Rex Reed, Film Criticism's Sharpest Tongue, Dead at 87

The longtime New York Observer and syndicated columnist, who could strip a film to its bones in a single sentence, died at his Manhattan apartment following a short illness.

Rex Reed died at his Manhattan home at age 87 after a short illness.
Reed rose to prominence in the 1960s as one of American film criticism's most recognizable and caustic voices.
He appeared on screen as the pre-surgery Myron Breckinridge in the 1970 film Myra Breckinridge, opposite Raquel Welch and Mae West.
Reed wrote for the New York Observer for decades and was syndicated widely at the peak of his influence.
He remained professionally active into his eighties, continuing to file reviews that drew both loyal readers and regular controversy.

Rex Reed, the film critic whose negative reviews became their own cultural event, died at his Manhattan home on Monday. He was 87. A short illness was cited as the cause.

Reed came up in the 1960s alongside Pauline Kael, the two of them functioning as opposite poles of American film criticism — Kael at The New Yorker, Reed everywhere else: syndicated columns, television appearances, the New York Observer, and a decades-long radio presence that outlasted most of his contemporaries.

He was not only a critic. In 1970 he appeared as Myron Breckinridge in the Gore Vidal adaptation Myra Breckinridge, sharing scenes with Mae West and Raquel Welch in a production that was panned on release and has never quite stopped being discussed since.

Reed's later career at the Observer produced reviews that could ignite small internet fires — his 2013 notice of Identity Thief drew a formal public complaint from Melissa McCarthy, a dispute that ran in print for several news cycles.

He continued filing copy into his eighties, from the same Dakota-adjacent Upper West Side address he had occupied for years.

He had no children. He is survived by his reviews.