Famous American Critics & Connoisseurs

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 1 
Roger Ebert
(Film Critic for the "Chicago Sun-Times")
Roger Ebert
4
Birthdate: June 18, 1942
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Urbana, Illinois, United States
Died: April 4, 2013

Roger Ebert was an American journalist, author, screenwriter, film historian, and film critic. While working as a film critic for the daily newspaper Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, becoming the first film critic to be honored with the prestigious award. He was often described as America's most influential and prominent film critic of all time.

 2 
Lenny Bruce
(American Stand-Up Comedian and Social Critic)
Lenny Bruce
6
Birthdate: October 13, 1925
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Mineola, New York, United States
Died: August 3, 1966

Regarded as one of the best American stand-up comedians of all time, Lenny Bruce was renowned for his critical form of comedy. His conviction for obscenity played a major role in redefining freedom of speech in the US. He is also credited with inspiring several comedians of the counterculture era. His life and career have inspired several works of art.

 3 
Ursula K. Le Guin
(American Author Best Known for Her Works of Speculative Fiction)
Ursula K. Le Guin
5
Birthdate: October 21, 1929
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Berkeley, California, United States
Died: January 22, 2018

Ursula K. Le Guin was an American author. In a career spanning almost six decades, Ursula wrote about political and social themes like race and sexuality. Throughout her career, Ursula had a major influence on speculative fiction. Her book A Wizard of Earthsea is credited with inspiring ideas like 'wizard school', which was later popularized in the Harry Potter series.

 4 
Katie Lee
(American Cookbook Author, Television Food Critic and Novelist)
Katie Lee
4
Birthdate: September 14, 1981
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Huntington, West Virginia, United States
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
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 5 
Lewis Black
(Comedian)
Lewis Black
4
Birthdate: August 30, 1948
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
 6 
Bell Hooks
Bell Hooks
4
Birthdate: September 25, 1952
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States
Died: December 15, 2021
 7 
Dick Gregory
(American critic)
Dick Gregory
4
Birthdate: October 12, 1932
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Died: August 19, 2017
 8 
Gene Siskel
(Film critic. Journalist)
Gene Siskel
4
Birthdate: January 26, 1946
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died: February 20, 1999
 9 
Paul Schrader
(Screenwriter)
Paul Schrader
4
Birthdate: July 22, 1946
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
 10 
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
(Literary Critic and Scholar Who Became Popular for His Pioneering Theories of African and African-American Literature)
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
4
Birthdate: September 16, 1950
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Keyser, West Virginia, United States

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an American literary critic, historian, professor, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is currently serving as the director of the Hutchins Center at Harvard University. Over the years Gates has been honored with several prestigious awards including the National Humanities Medal. In 1997, he was named in Time magazine's 25 Most Influential Americans list.

 11 
John Updike
(Poet, Novelist)
John Updike
4
Birthdate: March 18, 1932
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: January 27, 2009
 12 
George Plimpton
(Journalists)
George Plimpton
4
Birthdate: March 18, 1927
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Died: September 26, 2003
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
 13 
Kurt Loder
(Film critic)
Kurt Loder
4
Birthdate: May 5, 1945
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Ocean City, New Jersey, U.S.
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
 14 
André Aciman
(Italian-American Writer and Professor)
André Aciman
4
Birthdate: January 2, 1951
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Alexandria, Egypt

Andre Aciman is an Italian-American writer who is currently working at the CUNY Graduate Center as a professor of history of literary theory. He is best known for his literary work, which includes his Lambda Literary Award-winning novel Call Me by Your Name and his Whiting Award-winning 1995 memoir Out of Egypt.

 15 
Robert Christgau
(Journalist, Reporter, Essayist, Writer, Music critic)
Robert Christgau
5
Birthdate: April 18, 1942
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Greenwich Village
 16 
Harvey Pekar
(Comics artist, Autobiographer, Writer, Music critic, Journalist)
Harvey Pekar
4
Birthdate: October 8, 1939
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Cleveland
Died: July 12, 2010
 17 
Rex Reed
(Actor, Film actor, Journalist)
Rex Reed
5
Birthdate: October 2, 1938
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Fort Worth
 18 
Leonard Maltin
(Journalist, Art historian, Film critic, Screenwriter, Writer, University teacher)
Leonard Maltin
5
Birthdate: December 18, 1950
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York City
 19 
Anne Tyler
(Novelist)
Anne Tyler
4
Birthdate: October 25, 1941
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States
 20 
Charles John Klosterman
Charles John Klosterman
4
Birthdate: June 5, 1972
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Breckenridge, Minnesota, United States
 21 
Tom Verlaine
(American Singer, Guitarist and Songwriter)
Tom Verlaine
4
Birthdate: December 13, 1949
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Denville, New Jersey, United States
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
 22 
Orson Scott Card
(American Writer Best Known for His Science Fiction Novel 'Ender’s Game')
Orson Scott Card
4
Birthdate: August 24, 1951
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Richland, Washington, United States

American author, playwright and script-writer Orson Scott Card is best-known for writing the series’ Ender's Game and The Tales of Alvin Maker. First two novels of the Ender's Game series are counted among the most influential novels of the 1980s and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, while The Tales of Alvin Maker series won the Locus Fantasy Award.

 23 
Scott Ritter
(Writer, Officer)
Scott Ritter
3
Birthdate: July 15, 1961
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Gainesville
 24 
John Irving Bloom
(Film critic)
John Irving Bloom
4
Birthdate: January 27, 1953
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas, United States
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
 25 
James Agee
(Novelist)
James Agee
4
Birthdate: November 27, 1909
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Died: May 16, 1955
 26 
John Hammond
(Record producer, Activist)
John Hammond
4
Birthdate: December 15, 1910
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: July 10, 1987
 27 
Harry Knowles
(Film Critic and Writer Known for His Website Called 'Ain’t It Cool News')
Harry Knowles
4
Birthdate: December 11, 1971
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Austin, Texas, United States
Height: 5'11" (180 cm)
 28 
Frank O'Hara
(Poet)
Frank O'Hara
4
Birthdate: March 27, 1926
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore, Maryland
Died: July 25, 1966
 29 
Edgar Allan Poe
(Writer and Poet - Widely Regarded as a Central Figure of Romanticism in the United States)
Edgar Allan Poe
0
Birthdate: January 19, 1809
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Died: October 7, 1849

American writer Edgar Allan Poe is regarded as the architect of modern short story, the inventor of the detective-fiction genre and a major contributor towards science fiction genre. The influential writer is recognised for his tales of mystery and macabre. His notable works include The Raven (poem), The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher (short stories).

 30 
Armond White
(Film critic)
Armond White
4
Birthdate: April 24, 1953
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, United States
 31 
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
3
Birthdate: October 15, 1917
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio, United States
Died: February 28, 2007
 32 
Harold Bloom
(Most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world 2017)
Harold Bloom
4
Birthdate: July 11, 1930
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: October 14, 2019
 33 
George Steiner
(Literary critic, Essayist, Philosopher, Novelist)
George Steiner
4
Birthdate: April 23, 1929
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Died: February 3, 2020
 34 
Pauline Kael
(Film critic, Writer, Journalist)
Pauline Kael
4
Birthdate: June 19, 1919
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Petaluma
Died: September 3, 2001
 35 
John Lahr
(Biographer, Journalist)
John Lahr
4
Birthdate: July 12, 1941
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Los Angeles

John Henry Lahr is an American theater critic who worked as he senior drama critic at The New Yorker magazine from 1992 to 2013. Also an established author, he is known for works like Joy Ride and Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh.

 36 
Frederick R. Koch
(Former philanthropist, Founder of Koch Industries)
Frederick R. Koch
5
Birthdate: August 26, 1933
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas, United States
Died: February 12, 2020
 37 
Clement Greenberg
(American Essayist, Art Critic and Journalist)
Clement Greenberg
5
Birthdate: January 16, 1909
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: May 7, 1994
 38 
Richard Roeper
(Journalist)
Richard Roeper
4
Birthdate: October 17, 1959
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Height: 6'0" (183 cm)
 39 
Fredric Jameson
(Essayist, Political scientist, Writer, Professor, Literary critic, Sociologist, Journalist)
Fredric Jameson
4
Birthdate: April 14, 1934
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Cleveland

Fredric Jameson is an American philosopher, literary critic, and Marxist political theorist. Jameson is renowned for his analysis of capitalism and postmodernity. He is credited with authoring influential books like The Political Unconscious and Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. In 2012, Fredric Jameson was honored with the Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award by the Modern Language Association.

 40 
Isabella Stewart Gardner
(Art collector)
Isabella Stewart Gardner
4
Birthdate: April 14, 1840
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: New York City
Died: July 17, 1924
 41 
William Dean Howells
(Novelist)
William Dean Howells
3
Birthdate: March 1, 1837
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Martins Ferry, Ohio, U.S.
Died: May 11, 1920
 42 
Mimi Gardner Gates
(American Art Historian)
Mimi Gardner Gates
5
Birthdate: July 30, 1943
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: United States
 43 
Wesley Morris
(writer, film critic, journalist)
Wesley Morris
3
Birthdate: 1975 AD
Birthplace: Philadelphia
 44 
Janet Maslin
(Journalist, Best Known as a Film & Literary Critic for 'The New York Times')
Janet Maslin
3
Birthdate: August 12, 1949
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
 45 
Lionel Trilling
(Literary critic, Writer, Novelist, University teacher, Journalist)
Lionel Trilling
3
Birthdate: July 4, 1905
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Queens, New York, United States
Died: November 5, 1975
 46 
Stanley Fish
(Scholar)
Stanley Fish
4
Birthdate: April 19, 1938
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Providence, Rhode Island, United States
 47 
Frank Bruni
(Journalist)
Frank Bruni
4
Birthdate: October 31, 1964
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: White Plains
 48 
Ruth Reichl
(Journalist)
Ruth Reichl
3
Birthdate: January 16, 1948
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Manhattan
 49 
A. O. Scott
(Journalist, Film critic)
A. O. Scott
4
Birthdate: July 10, 1966
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Northampton
 50 
Vincent Canby
(Journalist)
Vincent Canby
4
Birthdate: July 27, 1924
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Chicago
Died: October 15, 2000