MEDVED, MICHAEL

MEDVED, MICHAEL (1948– ), author, radio personality. Medved was born to physicist David Bernard and chemist Renate Medved (née Hirsch) in Philadelphia, Penn. At the age of six, he moved with his family to San Diego, California, where David worked as a defense contractor for Convair. The family later moved to Los Angeles, where Medved attended Palisades High School. Medved began his undergraduate work at Yale University at 16 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in U.S. history from Yale University in 1969. He attended Yale Law School from 1969 to 1970 and taught at a Hebrew day school in New Haven, Conn. Medved worked as creative director and advertising copywriter for Anrick, Inc. in Oakland, Calif., from 1972 to 1974. Ten years after his graduation from high school, Medved and his fellow Palisades alumna David Wallechinsky interviewed their fellow classmates for the bestseller What Really Happened to the Class of '65? (1976). Medved moved to Los Angeles to write NBC's adaptation of his book. In 1978, he co-wrote the book The 50 Worst Films of All Time with his brother Harry Medved, which led to the sequels The Golden Turkey Awards: The Worst Achievements in Hollywood History (1980), The Hollywood Hall of Shame: The Most Expensive Flops in Movie History (1984), and The Son of Golden Turkey Awards (1986). In 1979, Medved published The Shadow Presidents: The Secret History of the Chief Executives and Their Top Aids (1979). In 1980, Medved dropped his affiliation with the Democratic Party and joined the GOP. Medved became CNN's film critic from 1981 to 1983. He spent a year with a hospital staff and published Hospital: The Hidden Lives of a Medical Center Staff (1983), a bestseller that detailed the emotional problems of doctors and nurses. Medved and his second wife, Diane Elvenstar, a clinical psychologist and writer, were active in Pacific Jewish Center, a Traditional Jewish congregation in Venice, Calif., that Medved co-founded to attract unaffiliated Jews. In 1985, Medved served as co-host with Jeffrey Lyons of the Public Broadcasting Service program Sneak Previews, a position he held for 12 years. In 1993, Medved became chief film critic for the New York Post and Hollywood correspondent for London's Sunday Times. Medved's criticism of Hollywood earned him guest spots on the conservative radio program hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Soon after Medved accepted an offer from a Seattle talk radio program to host his own daily three-hour show and moved to Washington state in 1996. By March 1998, Medved was broadcasting nationally to 40 stations, and by October 1999 his show was heard on 100 stations. (Adam Wills (2nd ed.)