Trivia

Chief film critic for the New York Times beginning in 1969.

Exposed the practice of advertising agencies, via the New York Times, for using misleadingly edited versions of film reviews to promote certain titles.

Canby never married but was, for many years, the companion of Penelope Gilliatt.

Canby is mentioned several times in the documentary Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate (2004). His notorious New York Times review of Heaven's Gate (1980) in its original form is singled out as the most damning of its many negative reviews; producer David Field criticizes the decision to withdraw the film and re-edit it as "it was an admission that everybody thought Canby was right". Canby's equally negative review of the shortened movie is quoted later ("like a fat man who's been on a crash diet, thinner but not appreciably different").