Richard Schickel

Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel (February 10, 1933 – February 18, 2017) was an American film historian, journalist, author, documentarian, and film and literary critic. He was a film critic for Time magazine from 1965–2010, and also wrote for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. His last writings about film were for Truthdig.
He was interviewed in For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009). In this documentary film, he discusses early film critics Frank E. Woods, Robert E. Sherwood, and Otis Ferguson, and tells of how, in the 1960s, he, Pauline Kael, and Andrew Sarris, rejected moralizing opposition of the older Bosley Crowther of The New York Times who had railed against violent movies such as Bonnie and Clyde (1967). In addition to film, Schickel also critiqued and documented cartoons, particularly Peanuts.
Personal life
Schickel was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Helen (née Hendricks) and Edward John Schickel. He received his B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1955.
Schickel had two daughters. Following a series of strokes, he died in Los Angeles on February 18, 2017, eight days after his 84th birthday.
Honors
Schickel received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964. He also lectured at Yale University and University of Southern California's School of Film and Television.
Books
The World of Carnegie Hall (1960)
The Stars (1962)
The Gentle Knight (1964)
Movies: The history of an Art and an Institution (1964)
The World of Goya, 1746–1828 (1968)
The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney (1968); revised editions: 1984, 1997
The Museum (1970)
Second Sight: Notes on Some Movies 1965–1970 (1972)
His Picture in the Papers: A Speculation on Celebrity in America Based on the Life of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (1974)
Harold Lloyd: The Shape of Laughter (1974)
The World of Tennis (1975)
The Men Who Made The Movies (1975)
Douglas Fairbanks: The First Celebrity (1976)
Another I, Another You: A Novel (1978)
Singled Out: A Civilized Guide to Sex and Sensibility for the Suddenly Single Man—or Woman (1981)
Cary Grant: A Celebration (1983)
D.W. Griffith: An American Life (1984); British Film Institute Book Prize, 1985
Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity (1985) (aka Common Fame: The Culture of Celebrity); revised 2000
Lena by Lena Horne and Richard Schickel
James Cagney: A Celebration (1986)
Gary Cooper (1986)
Striking Poses: Photographs from the Kobal Collection (1987)
Carnegie Hall: The First One Hundred Years by Richard Schickel and Michael Walsh (1987)
Schickel on Film: Encounters—Critical and Personal—With Movie Immortals (1989)
Brando: A Life in Our Times (1991)
Double Indemnity (BFI Film Classics) (1992)
Clint Eastwood: A Biography (1996)
Hollywood at Home: A Family Album 1950–1965 (1998)
Matinee Idylls: Reflections on the Movies (1999)
Good Morning, Mr. Zip Zip Zip: Movies, Memory and World War II (2003)
Woody Allen: A Life in Film (2004)
Elia Kazan: A Biography (2005)
Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart (2006)
The Essential Chaplin: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian (2006) (editor)
Clint [Eastwood] A Retrospective (2010)
Conversations with Scorsese (2011)
Steven Spielberg: A Retrospective (2012)
Keepers: The Greatest Films - and Personal Favorites - of a Moviegoing Lifetime (2015)
DocumentariesThe Men Who Made the Movies (1973), eight-part series, PBS, Emmy nominatedInto the Morning: Willa Cather's America (1975)Life Goes to the Movies (writer, 1976), NBC, Emmy nominatedThe Making of Star Wars (writer, 1977), ABCFunny Business (1978), CBSThe Horror Show (1979), CBSSP FX: The Empire Strikes Back (writer, 1980), CBSJames Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy (1981), PBSFrom Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga (writer, 1983), PBSMinnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente (1987), PBS, Emmy nominatedHappy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (writer, 1987), ABCCary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man (writer, 1988), ABCGary Cooper: American Life, American Legend (1989), TNTMyrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home to (1991), TNTBarbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991), TNTEastwood & Co : Making Unforgiven (1992), ABCHollywood on Hollywood (1993), AMCElia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995), AMC, Emmy nominatedEastwood on Eastwood (1997)The Harryhausen Chronicles (1998), PBS AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars: America's Greatest Screen Legends (writer, 1999), CBSAFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (writer, 2000), CBSShooting War: World War II Combat Cameramen (2000), ABC, Emmy nominatedWoody Allen: A Life in Film (2002), TCMThe Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (2002), TCMCharlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)Scorsese on Scorsese (2004), TCMWatch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us (2005), TCMSpielberg on Spielberg (2007), TCMCannes: All Access (2007)Ron Howard: 50 Years in Film (2008), TCMYou Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), three-part series, PBSThe Eastwood Factor (2010)Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (2013)
DVD commentariesThe Big Red OneThe Big TrailCity for ConquestDirty HarryLa Dolce VitaDouble IndemnityEast of EdenEl Dorado, with actor Edward Asner and author Todd McCarthyGentleman's Agreement, with actresses Celeste Holm and June HavocGildaThe Good, the Bad and the UglyHangover SquareThe Hustler, with actor Paul Newman, film historian Jeff Young, and other participantsLeave Her to Heaven, with actor Darryl HickmanThe Mark of ZorroOn the Waterfront, with Elia Kazan biographer Jeff YoungOnce Upon a Time in AmericaPin Up GirlThe Purple HeartRebeccaRio Bravo, with filmmaker John CarpenterRyan's Daughter, with director David Lean's wife Lady Sandra Lean, actress Sarah Miles, and other participantsSide StreetSomebody Up There Likes Me, with director Robert Wise, actors Paul Newman and Robert Loggia, and filmmaker Martin ScorseseStrangers on a Train, with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano, Patricia Highsmith biographer Andrew Wilson, and other participantsSudden ImpactTitanicUnforgivenWhirlpoolSee also
Walt Disney (2015 PBS film)
References
External links
(archived in 2015)
1989 audio interview with Richard Schickel at Wired for Books'' by Don Swaim
1933 births
2017 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American documentary film directors
American film critics
National Society of Film Critics Members
American film historians
American male non-fiction writers
Film theorists
Historians from Wisconsin
Time (magazine) people
Writers from Milwaukee