born June 19, 1919, Petaluma, Calif., U.S.
died Sept. 3, 2001, Great Barrington, Mass.
U.S. film critic.
She managed an art-film theatre (1955–60) in Berkeley, Calif., while writing film reviews for magazines and broadcasting her reviews on network radio. After a collection of her reviews and essays, I Lost It at the Movies (1965), gained her national attention, she moved to New York and became film critic for The New Yorker (1968–91). Her witty, biting, highly opinionated, and sharply focused reviews (of which five more collections were eventually published) made her arguably the most influential American film critic of her time.