Stuart Byron


Stuart Byron was a noted film critic whose writings appeared in The Village Voice, Variety, LA Weekly, The Advocate, Rolling Stone, Harper's, The New York Times, Boston Phoenix, Gay, On Film, Film Comment, Movie, Creem, and New York magazine, among others. He is the co-editor with Elisabeth Weis of the book "The National Society of Film Critics on Movie Comedy", published in 1976. Byron became well known for his "World's Hardest Movie Quiz" features in The Village Voice in the 1970s, which briefly returned to the paper in his memory from 1999-2004.
In addition to his film criticism and related writing, Byron worked in various roles in the entertainment industry, including positions as director of advertising and publicity for Pathé Contemporary Films; publicist at Avco Embassy Pictures; assistant to the president for motion pictures at Natoma Productions; and as a creative affairs executive for Ray Stark at Rastar Productions.
Byron was one of the first openly gay film critics in New York, coming out publicly in 1971, and was active in the gay rights community.
He died December 13, 1991 from complications resulting from AIDS. His papers are held at the Wesleyan Film Archives at Wesleyan University, which he attended from 1958-1963.