John Simon (critic)
| John Simon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jovan Simmon May 12, 1925 Subotica, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (present-day Subotica, Serbia) |
| Residence | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Ivan Simon |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Critic |
| Years active | 1959–present |
John Ivan Simon (born May 12, 1925) is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.
Jovan Simmon was born in Subotica, of Hungarian descent. The son of Joseph and Margaret (née Reves) Simmon, he grew up in Belgrade before immigrating to the United States in 1941, aged 16, on a tourist visa to join his father. By 1944 he was in United States Army Air Forces basic training camp in Wichita Falls, Texas. Both of his parents became naturalized United States citizens in 1941.
He attended Harvard University where he earned his BA, MA, and PhD. As a student, Simon was hired by playwright Lillian Hellman to prepare a translation of Jean Anouilh's The Lark, but he was never paid for his work since Hellman claimed he had typed it in the wrong format.
Simon has written theater, film, music, and book reviews for publications such as New York, Esquire, The Hudson Review, National Review, Opera News, The New Leader, Commonweal, The New Criterion and The New York Times Book Review. He contributes a monthly essay to The Weekly Standard.
Simon was the theater critic at New York magazine for 36 years from October 1968 until May 2005. He wrote theater reviews for Bloomberg News from June 2005 through November 2010. He currently reviews theater for The Westchester Guardian and Yonkers Tribune. Simon played himself in a 1975 television episode of The Odd Couple and as a sort of parody of himself in a short film on Saturday Night Live in 1986.
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