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Clive Barnes, 81, quotable N.Y. arts critic
By Jeremy Gerard
Bloomberg News
Nov 20, 2008
NEW YORK - Clive Barnes, 81, the avuncular, quotable critic who covered New York's theater and dance scene for more than 40 years, died yesterday in Manhattan at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He recently had been diagnosed with liver cancer. His death was confirmed by the New York Post, where he had served as chief drama and dance critic since 1977.
"Clive Barnes was a genuine legend," said Col Allan, Post editor in chief, in a news release. "For 30 years as a critic for the New York Post he wrote with honesty and a delightful whimsy."
Born in London in 1927 and educated at Oxford, Mr. Barnes worked as music, dance, drama and film critic at the Daily Express from 1956 through 1965. He also was dance critic for the Spectator. He was hired as chief dance critic of the New York Times in 1965 and two years later was named chief drama critic.
He also was a dance historian and biographer of choreographers Frederick Ashton and Rudolf Nureyev, among others, as well as a longtime columnist for Dance magazine.
As the Times' critic during the Vietnam era, when Broadway and off-Broadway were responding to tumultuous social changes, he became a household name among culture-watchers. From Hair in 1967 through A Chorus Line in 1975, he was arguably the country's most influential drama critic. An unabashed enthusiast, he could be effusive when he liked a show, withering - but rarely vicious or snide - when he didn't.
He made a point of being accessible to readers, keeping his home number listed in the phone book. He was unafraid to admit that a work of political or avant-garde dance or drama had eluded him, rather than simply attacking it for being bad.
He was also unfailingly generous to other writers. When approached in the late '70s to write a piece for a new theater journal, his first questions were, "What's the subject, and how long?"
It wasn't until those issues had been settled that he raised the issue of remuneration. Told there would be none, he responded: "When do you need it?"
He was still writing last month, filing a favorable review of David Mamet's Speed-The-Plow, his last theater notice, and reviewing works at American Ballet Theatre.
Mr. Barnes, who was married four times, is survived by his fourth wife, Valerie Taylor, a former soloist with the Royal Ballet, and two children from a previous marriage.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
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