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 from 1965–2010, and also wrote for Life and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. His last writings about film were for Truthdig.
Also recorded as Richard Warren Schickel
Richard Schickel

Helene C. Stikkel · This image was released by the United States Department of Defense with the ID 001004-D-2987S-140 (next). This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag · Public domain
- Name
- Richard Schickel
- Birth Name
- Richard Warren Schickel
- Born
- 10 February 1933
- Birthplace
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
- Died
- 18 February 2017
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- * Film critic
- Nationality
- United States.
- Fields
- history of film, film journalism, film criticism and literary criticism.
- Education
- Wauwatosa East High School.
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
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 from 1965–2010, and also wrote for Life and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. His last writings about film were for Truthdig.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Richard Schickel. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q1454098 · wikipedia · Richard Schickel
In this article
Biography
Biography
He was interviewed in For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009). In this documentary, 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.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Richard Schickel • Birth Name — Richard Warren Schickel • Born — 10 February 1933 • Birthplace — Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. • Died — 18 February 2017 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Alma Mater — University of Wisconsin-Madison • Occupation — * Film critic • historian • filmmaker • Years Active — 1960–2015
Personal life
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.
Documentaries
Documentaries
• The Men Who Made the Movies (1973), eight-part series, PBS, Emmy nominated • Into the Morning: Willa Cather's America (1975) • Life Goes to the Movies (writer, 1976), NBC, Emmy nominated • The Making of Star Wars (writer, 1977), ABC • Funny Business (1978), CBS • The Horror Show (1979), CBS • SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back (writer, 1980), CBS • James Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy (1981), PBS • From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga (writer, 1983), PBS • Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente (1987), PBS, Emmy nominated • Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (writer, 1987), ABC • Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man (writer, 1988), ABC • Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend (1989), TNT • Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home to (1991), TNT • Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991), TNT • Eastwood & Co: Making Unforgiven (1992), ABC • Hollywood on Hollywood (1993), AMC • Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995), AMC, Emmy nominated • Eastwood on Eastwood (1997) • The Harryhausen Chronicles (1998), PBS • AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars: America's Greatest Screen Legends (writer, 1999), CBS • AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (writer, 2000), CBS • Shooting War: World War II Combat Cameramen (2000), ABC, Emmy nominated • Woody Allen: A Life in Film (2002), TCM • The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (2002), TCM • Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003) • Scorsese on Scorsese (2004), TCM • Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us (2005), TCM • Spielberg on Spielberg (2007), TCM • Cannes: All Access (2007) • Ron Howard: 50 Years in Film (2008), TCM • You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), three-part series, PBS • The Eastwood Factor (2010) • Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (2013)
DVD commentaries
DVD commentaries
• The Big Red One • The Big Trail • City for Conquest • Dirty Harry • La Dolce Vita • Double Indemnity • East of Eden • El Dorado, with actor Edward Asner and author Todd McCarthy • Gentleman's Agreement, with actresses Celeste Holm and June Havoc • Gilda • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly • Hangover Square • The Hustler, with actor Paul Newman, film historian Jeff Young and other participants • Leave Her to Heaven, with actor Darryl Hickman • The Mark of Zorro • On the Waterfront, with Elia Kazan biographer Jeff Young • The Outlaw Josey Wales • Once Upon a Time in America • Pin Up Girl • The Purple Heart • Rebecca • Rio Bravo, with filmmaker John Carpenter • Ryan's Daughter, with director David Lean's wife Lady Sandra Lean, actress Sarah Miles and other participants • Side Street • Somebody Up There Likes Me, with director Robert Wise, actors Paul Newman and Robert Loggia, and filmmaker Martin Scorsese • Strangers on a Train, with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano, Patricia Highsmith biographer Andrew Wilson and other participants • Sudden Impact • Titanic • Unforgiven • Whirlpool
Identity
Identity
Richard Schickel is recorded as film critic, documentary filmmaker, film director, film producer and screenwriter.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2017
Richard Schickel died in 2017 at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Milwaukee.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
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)
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Richard Schickel”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1454098: Richard Schickel
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
scholarly publication
- Schickel, Richard Warren (10 February 1933–18 February 2017), author and film critic, American National Biography Online, 2021
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2021
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.
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Michaelis, David. Schulz and Peanuts: a Biography. Harper. 343. 2007. 9780066213934.
- 2.Schickel, Richard. My Milwaukee. American Heritage. 57. 2. April–May 2006.
- 3.Richard Schickel Biography (1933-). www.filmreference.com.
- 4.Roberts, Sam. Richard Schickel, Movie Critic, Author and Filmmaker, Dies at 84. The New York Times. 2017-02-21. 0362-4331.
- 5.Dagan, Carmel. Richard Schickel, Influential Time Magazine Film Critic, Dies at 84. February 20, 2017.
- 6.Each part of the series is dedicated to a director: Frank Capra, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Vincente Minnelli, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh, William A. Wellman.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Schickel, Richard Warren (10 February 1933–18 February 2017), author and film critic, American National Biography Online, 2021Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1454098: Richard SchickelWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
37,409 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Richard SammelPerson
- Richard SandrakPerson
- Richard SchaalPerson
- Richard SchenkmanPerson
- Richard ShorrPerson
- Richard SlapczynskiPerson
- Richard Speight Jr.Person
- Richard StahlPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Richard Schickel?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.