1. Leonard Maltin is known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published from 1969 to 2014.
34 Facts About Leonard Maltin
1. 2.
Leonard Maltin currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies.
3.
Leonard Maltin served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry.
4.
Leonard Maltin has written books on animation and the history of film.
5.
Leonard Maltin has hosted numerous specials and provided commentary for several films.
6.
Leonard Maltin received the Robert Osborne Award from Turner Classic Movies in 2022.
7.
Leonard Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline and Aaron Isaac Leonard Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge, as part of a Jewish family, and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey.
8.
Leonard Maltin began his writing career at age 10, with a weekly magazine called The Bergen Bulletin.
9.
Leonard Maltin began writing a monthly column for a Canadian publication, Film Fan Monthly, edited by Daryl Davy, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood.
10.
Leonard Maltin expanded the circulation to 2,000 and continued to publish it until 1974.
11.
Leonard Maltin created a film society at Teaneck High School and graduated in 1968.
12.
Leonard Maltin later earned a journalism degree at New York University.
13.
An English teacher at Teaneck High School suggested that Leonard Maltin meet a friend of hers at publisher New American Library who was looking for someone to edit a film guide and in September 1969, at age 18, Leonard Maltin edited his first book, TV Movies, a compendium of synopses and reviews, with the subtitle, "Everything You Want To Know About More than 8,000 Movies Now Being Shown on TV".
14.
Leonard Maltin wrote program guides for the newly created Showtime network and went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide.
15.
Leonard Maltin served as the film critic for Playboy for six years based on Roger Ebert's suggestion.
16.
Leonard Maltin wrote Behind the Camera, a study of cinematography published in 1971.
17.
Leonard Maltin praised the Tournee of Animation on the show at one point or another.
18.
Leonard Maltin 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.
19.
Leonard Maltin hosted a television show called Secret's Out on ReelzChannel network.
20.
Leonard Maltin spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, and continued to provide creative input and host the various sets.
21.
For nearly a decade, Leonard Maltin was on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City.
22.
Leonard Maltin appeared on a week of episodes of The $25,000 Pyramid as a celebrity contestant alongside Abby Dalton.
23.
Additionally, Leonard Maltin appeared in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, playing a film critic who blasts the first Gremlins film, but is attacked by the Gremlins.
24.
Leonard Maltin was parodied in the South Park episode "Mecha-Streisand" where he, Sidney Poitier, and Robert Smith fight a Godzilla-like robot version of Barbra Streisand.
25.
Leonard Maltin was one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its original run; during a Season Nine episode, he joins Pearl Forrester in torturing Mike Nelson and the bots with the film Gorgo.
26.
Leonard Maltin was mocked on the show for giving the film Laserblast a rating of 2.5 stars.
27.
Leonard Maltin appeared on the podcast in February 2010 and played the game himself.
28.
Leonard Maltin appeared on the show again in August 2010.
29.
In November 2010, Benson and Leonard Maltin played the game on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.
30.
Leonard Maltin repeated his appearances on Doug Loves Movies in September 2011 with Jimmy Pardo and Samm Levine, in September 2012 with Chris Evans and Adam Scott and in November 2013 with Peter Segal, "Werner Herzog" and Clare Kramer.
31.
From 2014 to 2019, Leonard Maltin hosted the quarterly Treasures From the Disney Vault on Turner Classic Movies.
32.
Leonard Maltin is married to researcher and producer Alice Tlusty, and has one daughter, Jessie, who works with him.
33.
In July 2018, Leonard Maltin announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three and a half years prior.
34.
In 1998, Leonard Maltin settled a libel suit brought by former actor Billy Gray, whom Leonard Maltin identified in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee as a real-life drug addict and dealer.