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Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for The New York Times from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. He reviewed more than one thousand films during his tenure there.
He became an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve on October 13, 1942, and reported aboard the Landing Ship, Tank 679 on July 15, 1944.United States Navy NAVPERS 605-B "Commissioning Report Officers Report of Changes of U.S.S. LST 679", July 15, 1944, page 1. Note: Service Number 360 047. He was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) on January 1, 1946, while on LST 679 sailing near Japan.United States Navy NAVPERS 605-B "Officers Sailing Report, Report of Changes of U.S.S. LST 679, 10th day of January, 1946, date of sailing from Yokohama, Japan to Kure, Japan", February 7, 1946, page 1. After the war, he returned to his alma mater Dartmouth College and graduated in 1947.
Canby was an enthusiastic supporter of filmmakers Stanley Kubrick, Spike Lee, Jane Campion, Mike Leigh, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, James Ivory and Woody Allen, who credited Canby's rave review of Take the Money and Run as a crucial point in his career. On the other hand, Canby was also highly critical of some otherwise acclaimed films, such as Rocky, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Night of the Living Dead, After Hours, Blazing Saddles, A Christmas Story, Witness, Mask, The Natural, Rain Man, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Deliverance, The Godfather Part II, Alien and The Thing. Among the best-known texts written by Canby was an extremely negative review of the movie Heaven's Gate by Michael Cimino.
In December 1994, Canby switched his attention from film to theatre, having been named the Sunday theatre critic. He was replaced as the Times' chief film critic by Janet Maslin.
Canby was also an occasional playwright and novelist, penning the novels Living Quarters (1975) and Unnatural Scenery (1979) and the plays End of the War (1978), After All (1981) and The Old Flag (1984), a drama set during the American Civil War.
The career of Vincent Canby is discussed in the film by contemporary critics such as The Nations Stuart Klawans, who talks of Canby's influence.
Personal life
Canby never married, but was, for many years, the companion of English author Penelope Gilliatt, who died in 1993. He died from cancer at a hospital in Manhattan on October 15, 2000. Almost three years later, upon the death of Bob Hope, Canby's byline appeared on the front page of The New York Times. Canby had written the bulk of Hope's obituary several years before.
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Categories: 1924 Births, 2000 Deaths, 20th-century American Historians, 20th-century American Male Writers, 20th-century American Non-fiction Writers, American Film Critics, American Film Historians, American Male Non-fiction Writers, American Theater Critics, The New York Times Journalists, Dartmouth College Alumni, Deaths From Cancer In New York, Film Theorists, Military Personnel From Illinois, People From Brooklyn Heights, People From The Upper West Side, United States Navy Officers, United States Navy Personnel Of World War Ii, United States Navy Reservists, Variety People, Writers From Brooklyn, Writers From Chicago, Writers From Manhattan, Historians From Brooklyn, Historians From Illinois
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