Rex Reed, the provocative film critic and author who also appeared as a judge on The Gong Show, has died at his home aged 87. His representative confirmed that he suffered a brief illness before his death, according to friend William Kapfer.
Reed gained notoriety for his sharp-tongued Hollywood interviews and columns, writing for the New York Observer from its launch in 1987 until his final review last November. He spent 13 years as an arts critic for the New York Daily News and five years at the New York Post. His reputation as a relentless name-dropper and gossip merchant made him a staple on television shows such as The Dick Cavett Show and The Tonight Show during the 1970s.
On screen, Reed played Myron in the 1970 film Myra Breckinridge, based on Gore Vidal's novel, and appeared in Superman (1978) and Inchon (1981) alongside Laurence Olivier. He never married and had no immediate survivors. In a 2018 interview with The Times, he said: 'I don't have relationships, except friends. Love is not something that I've been really good at.'
Reed was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1938 and began writing a gossip column in eighth grade. He later worked at 20th Century Fox before establishing himself as a magazine writer for publications including Vogue, Esquire and GQ. He told his Observer editor earlier this year: 'I'd like to be remembered as someone who really tried to make things better... Not as a curmudgeon.'
