MALTIN, LEONARD

MALTIN, LEONARD (1950– ), U.S. film critic-historian. Maltin was born in New York to lawyer and immigration judge Aaron I. Maltin and singer Jacqueline Martin (née Gould). As a 15-year-old high school student in Teaneck, N.J., Maltin took over as the editor of the film magazine Film Fan Monthly. Circulation of the magazine increased dramatically under the young film aficionado, and at age 18 he was contracted to produce the annual paperback reference guide TV Movies, now released under the title Leonard Matlin's Movieand Video Guide. Maltin graduated from New York University in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He joined the faculty at New School for Social Research in 1973, leaving the magazine in 1975. He joined the television entertainment magazine show Entertainment Tonight as a correspondent in 1982. He also hosted a daily radio feature on home videos, broadcast in Los Angeles on news station KNX. In 1995 and 1996, he served as president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Maltin served as host, consultant, and writer for a variety of cable television programs and film retrospectives; as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television from 1998; and adviser to the National Film Preservation Board from 1997. Other books by Maltin include The Disney Films (20004), Leonard Maltin's Family Film Guide (1999), The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age (1997), Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia (1995), The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang (1992), Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (1987), Selected Short Subjects (1983), The Great Movie Comedians (1978) and The Art of the Cinematographer (1978). (Adam Wills (2nd ed.)