Pauline Kael (1919–2001)

Pauline Kael was born in Petaluma, California, to a family of Jewish immigrants. In 1936, she entered the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied philosophy, literature, and art. She became one of the most influential American film critics of her era. She wrote for The New Yorker from 1967 until her retirement in 1991. As the magazine's film critic, she wrote hundreds of Current Cinema columns, as well as many shorter film reviews. She was the author of 13 books, including I Lost It at the Movies (1965), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (1968), Deeper Into Movies (which won the 1974 National Book Award), and 5001 Nights at the Movies (1982). She received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1964 and received Front Page Awards from the Newswomen's Club of New York in 1974 and 1983. She won a George Polk Memorial Award in 1970.