David Ehrenstein

Born: New York City, February 18, 1947.

Attended the High School of Music and Art (now LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and Music & Art), then Pace College (now Pace University.)

Commenced writing career in 1965 with interview with an Andy Warhol (his first) at the old "Silver" Factory; published in Film Culture magazine #40, Spring 1966. Continued to contribute to that publication through to 1983.

Contributions to other publications during the 1960's include December and The Village Voice.

Met Bill Reed in 1972.

In 1976 moved to Los Angeles with Bill Reed and began work as a film critic and entertainment journalist for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Also wrote for Film Comment and Film Quarterly during this period.

In 1982 collaborated with Bill Reed on the book, Rock On Film (Delilah/G.P. Putnam's), while continuing to write for diverse publications including the San Francisco Examiner, Rolling Stone, Cahiers du Cinema, Arts, The Los Angeles Reader, Enclitic and Wide Angle. Just prior to the demise of the Herald-Examiner, moved to Daily Variety then The Advocate. Wrote Film: The Front Line-- 1984 (Arden Press), a survey of experimental and independent film work.

Contributed to Sight & Sound and The Film Yearbook -- Volumes 2, 3, 4, & 5 (Virgin Books)

Film researcher and historian for Hollywood and History costume exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987. Wrote The Scorsese Picture: The Art and Life of Martin Scorsese (Birch Lane, 1992)

Wrote Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998 (William Morrow, 1998)

Contributed to Los Angeles, Positif and New Times: Los Angeles.

Key article, Desert Fury, Mon Amour republished in Film Quarterly : Forty Years -- A Selection edited by Brian Henderson and Ann Martin (University of California Press, 1999)

Lecture appearances include: National Alliance of Media Arts Centers Conference, Atlanta Georgia 1988; College Art Association Conference, San Francisco, 1989; and National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association Conference, Miami Florida, 1996.

Television appearances include: Anthony Perkins: The E! True Hollywood Story (1998); Rock Hudson: The E! True Hollywood Story (1999); Sonny Bono: The E! True Hollywood Story (1999); Bob Guccione: The E! True Hollywood Story (2000); Assignment E!: Gay Hollywood with Leeza Gibbons (2000). The Hollywood Fashion Machine -- Fashion Duo's (1999); Dressed to Thrill (1999); and Studio Style Wars (2000).

Show full bio

Hide full bio