Rex Reed, Critic Famous for His Love of Cinema & Scathing Reviews, Dies at 87

Rex Reed, a movie critic whose love of the medium was matched only by his capacity to rip bad films and performances to shreds in his columns, has died at 87.

Reed died early Tuesday morning at his Manhattan home following a brief illness, his representative confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Reed had lived in the famed Dakota building since 1970.

Reed was The New York Observer's chief film critic since 1987, with his final review — for "Truth & Treason" — published in November 2025.

He was briefly on "At the Movies" in 1986 when Siskel and Ebert left.

Before that, he was known for his work in The New York Daily News and The Post after having made a name for himself in the '60s thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of film, his courting of controversy, and his love of celebrity culture — even if he could be counted on to knock it when justified.

Some of Reed's writing was deemed over-the-top — at least by his subjects. He famously irked Ava Gardner with a 1966 Esquire profile. When she complained, he noted she was "completely drunk."

In 1974, he savaged his personal pal Lucille Ball's work in "Mame," declaring the glamour filters made it look as though she'd been "shot through chicken fat."

He also had it in for David Lynch, whose work bored him, even the classic "Blue Velvet" (1986), which he branded "sick."

In 2013, he description of Melissa McCarthy, then starring in "Identity Thief," as "tractor-sized" rankled Hollywood players, but he refused to apologize. Still, when McCarthy didn't comment, he deemed her to be "completely classy."

Reed dabbled in acting — he could also be spotted in "The Rehearsal" (1974), "Superman" (1978), "Inchon" (1981), and "Irreconcilable Differences" (1984).

Most infamously, he acted in the 1970 flop "Myra Breckinridge," in which he played the same character as Raquel Welch, prior to sex-reassignment surgery. The outrageous film, based on a best-selling novel by Gore Vidal, also featured Mae West and John Huston, not to mention a series of vintage film flips that rattled Old Hollywood's sensibilities in the context of a sexually provocative comedy.

Reed panned his own film.

Like Joan Rivers, in spite of an acerbic public image, Reed was often described as a pussycat in person.

Singer Seth Sikes remembered on Facebook, "Rex Reed came to review one of my early solo shows. I was extremely green, not so great, and very nervous, but he gave me an outstanding review in The Observer. I was so grateful and I got to know him later and I so very much enjoyed his company and all his amazing stories."

When Reed liked something, he loved it. In 2023, Reed hosted a tribute to his late friend Doris Day, perhaps his pop cultural antithesis. He was also sweet on Polly Bergen and "The Bad Seed," attending a 2021 screening of the latter and posing with its star, Patty McCormack. McCormack plays a sociopathic child in the film, a little girl who sees nothing wrong with doing whatever it takes to get what she wants.

The eternal critic dubbed himself "the bad Reed" afterward with a chuckle.