Sayre, Nora (1932–2001)

views updated

Sayre, Nora (1932–2001)

American film critic and essayist. Born Nora Clemens Sayre, Sept 20, 1932, in Hamilton, Bermuda; died Aug 8, 2001, in New York, NY; dau. of Joel Sayre (staffwriter for New Yorker) and Gertrude (Lynahan) Sayre (reporter for The New York World; graduate of Radcliffe, cum laude, 1954; m. briefly to Robert Neild (Labour politician).

Served as NY correspondent for New Statesman (1965–70), and as film critic for The New York Times (1973–75); for next 7 years, freelanced as film critic for The Nation, The Progressive, Esquire and The New York Times Book Review; wrote on cultural effects of McCarthyism and the Cold War in Running Time: Films of the Cold War (1982) and Previous Convictions (1995).

See also memoir, On the Wing: A Young American Abroad (Counterpoint, 2001).