American author, editor, and critic of film and theater
Stanley Kauffmann
Born
(1916-04-24)April 24, 1916
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died
October 9, 2013(2013-10-09) (aged 97)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)
Critic, editor, writer, educator
Spouse
Laura Cohen
(m. 1943; died 2012)
Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater.[1]
Career
Kauffmann started with The New Republic in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next 55 years, publishing his last review in 2013.[2][3] He had one brief break in his New Republic tenure,[4] when he served as the drama critic for The New York Times for eight months in 1966.[5]
Stanley electrified educated people with the news that movies had become one of the high arts again, and that there were contemporary works—by Bergman, Truffaut, Antonioni, and many other directors—the equal of the masterpieces of the silent era.
David Denby, "Stanley Kauffmann Tribute: 'A Masterpiece Every Week!'", The New Republic, October 9, 2013
Kauffmann was also a professor of English, Drama, and Film at City University of New York (Hunter College, York College, and the Graduate Center) (1973–76) and taught at the Yale School of Drama.[when?][9]
Kauffmann was featured in the 2009 documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism where he was shown discussing the beginnings of film criticism in America, and noting the important contributions of poet Vachel Lindsay, who grasped that "the arrival of film was an important moment in the history of human consciousness".[10]
Kauffmann attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and New York University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1935, and he was an actor and stage manager with the Washington Square Players. Kauffmann married Laura Cohen in 1943, and they remained together until Cohen's death in 2012. They did not have children. Kauffmann died of pneumonia at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan on October 9, 2013, at age 97.[11]
Regarding Film: Criticism and Comment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (2001).
Distinguishing Features: Film Criticism and Comment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1994).
Field of View: Film Criticism and Comment. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications (1986).
Theater Criticisms. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications (1986).
Albums of Early Life. New Haven: Ticknor & Fields (1980).
Before My Eyes: Film Criticism and Comment. New York: Harper & Row (1980).
Persons of the Drama: Theater Criticism and Comment. New York: Harper & Row (1976).
Living Images: Film Comment and Criticism. New York: Harper & Row (1975).
American Film Criticism: From the Beginnings to "Citizen Kane"; Reviews of Significant Films at the Time They First Appeared [Editor, with Bruce Henstell]. New York: Liveright (1972).
Figures of Light: Film Criticism and Comment. New York: Harper & Row (1971).
A World on Film: Criticism and Comment. New York: Harper & Row (1966).
^Moore, H., Walker Percy's The Moviegoer: A Publishing History, The Library Chronicle of the University of Texas. volume 22, Numbers 1-4, 1991-92, pages 123-43
^ abJames Wolcott; David Denby; David Thompson (October 9, 2013). "A Tribute: Stanley Kauffmann, 1916-2013". The New Republic.