Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote forVariety for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010.^[1][2] In October of that year, he joinedThe Hollywood Reporter, where he subsequently served as chief film critic until 2020.^[3][4] McCarthy subsequently began writing regularly forDeadline Hollywood in 2020.^[5]

Todd McCarthy was born inEvanston, Illinois,^[6] the son of Daniel and Barbara McCarthy.^[7] His mother was a cellist and served as the president of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra.^[8] His father was a rancher and real-estate developer. McCarthy graduated fromEvanston Township High School (ETHS) in 1968 andStanford University in 1972.^[6] While at ETHS, he made a silent, plotless movie onSuper 8 film titledMimi after thenickname of his featured classmate who later became known asClaudia Jennings.^[9] In college, McCarthy was hired as a critic at the newspaper office on campus. His first review was a positive one for the French-Italian filmBelle de Jour (1967). He wrote it at the age of 18.^[10]

McCarthy editedKings of Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System with Charles Flynn, a book that discusses the great filmmakers ofB movies, which was published in 1975.^[1] He moved to Los Angeles and from 1974 to 1975, worked forParamount Pictures as an assistant toElaine May.^[6] He helped her editMikey and Nicky (1976). From 1975 to 1977, McCarthy worked forNew World Pictures in Los Angeles as the director of advertising and publicity.^[6] He also joinedThe Hollywood Reporter as a film critic in 1975 but was let go a year later.^[11] McCarthy was later the manager of the English-language edition ofLe Film français in 1977. The next year, he got a job as a Hollywood editor forFilm Comment.^[6]

McCarthy joinedDaily Variety in 1979 and worked as a reporter and film critic until 1989.^[2][11] In 1990, McCarthy wrote thePBS documentaryPreston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer which won him anEmmy Award.^[12] He directed four documentaries about film:Visions of Light (1992),Claudia Jennings (1995),Forever Hollywood (1999), andMan of Cinema: Pierre Rissient (2007).^[13]Visions of Light was named the Best Documentary of the Year by theNational Society of Film Critics and theNew York Film Critics Circle.Forever Hollywood has been played atGrauman's Egyptian Theatre for more than a decade.^[12]

In 1991 he joinedVariety as film review editor ofVariety andDaily Variety.^[14] He wrote about the producer/directorHoward Hawks in his book,Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, which was published in 2000.^[13] In 2007 he wroteFast Women: The Legendary Ladies of Racing.^[6] McCarthy also wroteDes Ovnis, des Monstres et du Sexe: Le Cinéma Selon Roger Corman (2011).^[15]

McCarthy lost his job atVariety in March 2010,^[4] having been the longest-serving member of their staff.^[1] McCarthy began writing forIndieWire after leavingVariety. He was rehired byThe Hollywood Reporter in October 2010 as the chief film critic underJanice Min.^[4][3] He wrote the introduction to the 2013 edition of cinematographerJohn Alton's bookPainting with Light.^[16] McCarthy lost his job atThe Hollywood Reporter in April 2020.^[17] McCarthy subsequently began writing regularly forDeadline Hollywood later in 2020.^[5]

At age 43, McCarthy married documentary filmmaker Sasha Alpert on July 4, 1993, at his family's ranch inPagosa Springs, Colorado.^[8]

• Kings of the Bs: Working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism (1975) (edited by Todd Mccarthy and Charles Flynn)
• Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood (2000)
• Fast Women: The Legendary Ladies of Racing (2007)
• Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (2011) (coauthor Virginia Mecklenburg)

• Todd McCarthy atIMDb
• Todd McCarthy papers, MSS 2308 atL. Tom Perry Special Collections,Brigham Young University

• 1950 births
• Living people
• Writers from Evanston, Illinois
• Evanston Township High School alumni
• Stanford University alumni
• American film critics
• National Society of Film Critics Members
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• Journalists from California
• Journalists from Illinois
• Writers from California
• Variety (magazine) people
• The Hollywood Reporter people
• 20th-century American male writers
• Film directors from Illinois
• American male non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American male writers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Use mdy dates from June 2016