Biography

John Simon

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John Simon was born in Subotica (present-day Serbia) of Hungarian descent to Joseph and Margaret (née Reves) Simmon. He amended his surname at some point to "Simon". He grew up in Belgrade before immigrating to the United States in 1941, aged 16, on a tourist visa to join his parents. He posted on his blog that "Ivan" was later added by his father as a middle name to add distinction.
- IMDb mini biography by: Robert Sieger

Film and theatre critic for "New York Magazine" for 35 years, a position from which he retired in 2005. He was an ardent champion of the films of Ingmar Bergman, whom he considered the greatest director to work in films. He covered foreign cinema just as extensively as American cinema.
He studied comparative literature at Harvard University, where he received his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees. He taught at schools including Harvard and MIT.
After fellow critic Pauline Kael gave a rave review of Barbra Streisand's performance in Hello, Dolly! (1969), Simon wrote that Streisand's success "hinges on the number of homely women who can identify themselves with her". He was mystified as to why Kael refused to speak to him after this.

[on Walter Matthau] He looks like a half-melted rubber bulldog.
Any attempt in America to make a film a work of art must be hailed. Usually, in the same breath, it must be farewelled.
[on Jean-Luc Godard] Since Godard's films have nothing to say, perhaps we could have 90 minutes silence instead of each of them.
[on Barbra Streisand] A full-screen close-up of Miss Streisand is a truly terrifying experience; as the camera moves closer and closer you know what Sir Edmund Hillary [who successfully climbed Mt. Everest] must have felt.
[on Glenda Jackson's performance in Women in Love (1969)] Glenda Jackson gives the most interesting performance of the film, but is, alas, almost frighteningly plain. Her features are heavy and somehow malevolent in their irregularity; her body is like a block of uncarved stone except for her much-revealed breasts, shaped like collapsing gourds; and her thick arms and legs might as well be those of the West African fetish that figures so prominently in the novel but is cut from the film.

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