Martin Gottfried (October 9, 1933 – March 6, 2014) was an Americancritic,columnist andauthor. He was born inBrooklyn, New York.

Gottfried was a 1959 graduate ofColumbia College inNew York City,^[1] and attendedColumbia Law School for three semesters, next spending one year with U.S. Army Military Intelligence. Gottfried began his writing career as theclassical music critic forThe Village Voice, doubling as anoff-Broadway reviewer forWomen's Wear Daily, a position that made him the youngest member of the New York Drama Critics Circle in the organization's history.^[2]

In 1968,Little, Brown and Company published his first book,A Theater Divided, a study of post-World War II Americantheater. The book won the highest honor in dramatic criticism, theGeorge Jean Nathan Award.^[2] In 1970 Putnam publishedOpening Nights, a collection of his essays.^[3] By then, he had become a regular contributor to the Arts and Leisure section ofThe New York Times' Sunday edition.

In 1974, he became the drama critic for theNew York Post. Four years later, he"Americanized" theWest EndmusicalBar Mitzvah Boy for anoff-Broadway production.^[4]

In 1979, Gottfried began writing for theSaturday Review, the same yearHarry N. Abrams, Inc. published hisBroadway Musicals.^[5] In 1991, it was joined by a sequel,More Broadway Musicals. and "In Person," a tribute to performing artists.

Until recently the drama critic for theNew York Law Journal, Gottfried has conducted a series of "Conversations" at the92nd Street Y as well as at theNew School of Social Research and theMetropolitan Museum of Art. Participants have includedStephen Sondheim,Andrew Lloyd Webber,Harold Prince,Jane Alexander,Christopher Walken andRichard Dreyfuss. Gottfried also has been a contributor toThe New York Times Sunday Magazine,Vogue, the Yale Drama Review andCondé Nast Traveler. He also writes regular articles on the performing arts forStagebill, the program distributed in theaters and concert halls across America.

He has been a guest professor of theater at theColumbia University School of the Arts,Carnegie-Mellon University,Rutgers University and theColorado College, as well as a Visiting Artist/Professor at the College ofSanta Fe.

He died of complications ofpneumonia at the age of 80 on March 6, 2014, in Manhattan.^[6] He was married toJane Lahr,^[7] daughter ofBert Lahr and sister ofJohn Lahr.

Gottfried's writings include biographies of Sondheim,^[8]Arthur Miller,^[9]Jed Harris,^[10]Bob Fosse,^[11]Danny Kaye,^[12]George Burns,^[13] andAngela Lansbury.^[14] His latest book, co-written withBill Condon and Cheo Coker, isDreamgirls The Movie Musical, published in April 2007.^[15]

A review ofArthur Miller: His Life and Work called the book a "thorough and revealing biography".^[16]

• Martin Gottfried atIMDb
• Gottfried Biography prenhall.com
• Bibliography
• Gottfried Biography faber.co.uk