{"id":1613877,"date":"2026-05-12T07:04:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1613877"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:54:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:54:40","slug":"rex-reed-obituary-a-personal-remembrance-of-the-legendary-film-critic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2026\/05\/rex-reed-obituary-a-personal-remembrance-of-the-legendary-film-critic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rex Reed I Knew (1938\u20132026)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Legendary film critic Rex Reed passed away on May 12, 2026, as confirmed by longtime friend William Kapfer. Reed died peacefully in his sleep after several years of health issues and nearly six months in and out of the hospital. Toronto Star via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I last saw Rex Reed<\/a> in person exactly four months ago, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, on January 12, 2026. His longtime friend William Kapfer called three days earlier to tell me Rex had been there for several weeks and that from his hospital bed, he couldn’t stop worrying about his editor at the Observer. That was me. I had already planned to fly up from Richmond, where I work remotely, so the timing felt almost fated.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took nearly an hour to clear security, then another stretch of wrong elevator banks and unhelpful directions before I finally found his room. When I walked in, I had to steady myself. <\/span>He looked so small, this man who had always been larger than life.<\/span><\/p>\n

We spoke again by phone a few weeks later. He’d been back to the hospital since my visit\u2014blood transfusions, liver complications, a cascade of problems that began a couple years earlier, when he fell at a gas station and hurt his foot. “I’ll either get better or I’ll die,” he told me, “and I’ll let you know which one.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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