NEW YORK — Film critic and LSU alumnus Rex Reed has died, multiple outlets reported Tuesday morning. He was 87.
Reed, who graduated from LSU in 1960 and wrote film and television for the Reveille, became known for his controversial reviews and provocative Hollywood interviews in the 1960s and beyond. The New York Times, in its obituary of Reed, called his writing “graceful and evocative but often also the literary equivalent of a poison-tipped dagger plunged between the shoulder blades.”
From its founding in 1987 to its shuttering in 1987, he wrote reviews and columns for the New York Observer. He also provided his film criticism to the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, GQ, the New York Times and Women’s Wear Daily.
Reed was known for his polarizing criticism and personality, with some describing him as endearing and others as off-putting. He panned many now-iconic films, like when he called David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” as “one of the sickest films ever made.”
He also made claims that the 1993 Best Supporting Actress Oscar that went to Marisa Tomei for “My Cousin Vinny” was for the wrong person. Despite being vilified in the press for the incident, Reed stuck by his story, calling it a cover-up into the latter half of the ’90s.
He also once said that deaf actress Marlee Matlin’s 1987 Oscar win was a “pity vote.”
Into the 21st century, the provocative critic received backlash for his writing, like when, in 2013, he called Melissa McCarthy “tractor-sized” and a “female hippo.”
Reed also had an acting career, starring as the titular role in the 1970 comedy “Myra Breckinridge,” and appearing as himself in several productions as late as 1995, including 1978’s “Superman.” In the 1980s, Reed was also the co-host of “At the Movies,” a syndicated television program, and appeared frequently on the Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson talk shows.
According to the New York Times, Reed leaves behind no immediate family members, telling the paper in 2018 that he doesn’t “have ‘relationships,’ except friends.”
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