Danny Peary Explained

Danny Peary
Birth Name:Dannis Peary
Birth Date:8 August 1949
Birth Place:Philippi, West Virginia, U.S.
Years Active:1971–present

Dannis Peary (born August 8, 1949)[1] is an American film critic[2] and sports writer.[3] He has written and edited many books on cinema and sports-related topics. Peary is most famous for his book Cult Movies (1980), which spawned two sequels, Cult Movies 2 (1983) and Cult Movies 3 (1988) and are all credited for providing more public interest in the cult movie phenomenon.[4]

He is the brother of film critic, columnist, actor, and documentary filmmaker Gerald Peary.[5]

Early life and education

Peary was born in Philippi, West Virginia, to Laura Chaitan and Joseph Y. Peary, a professor.[1] During his childhood, he moved to South Carolina,[6] and then New Jersey.[7] In 1971, he earned a B.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He also worked as a film critic for the Daily Cardinal student newspaper.[8] In 1975, he earned an M.A. in cinema, with honors, at the University of Southern California. While attending USC, he worked as the fine arts and sports editor for L.A. Panorama.[1]

Personal life

Since 1977, Peary has lived in New York City. He and his wife Suzanne have a daughter, Zoe.

Career

Film criticism

Over the years, his film criticism has been published in FilmInk, Movieline, Satellite Direct, OnDirect TV, TV Guide, Canadian TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, the New York Daily News, The Boston Globe, Sports Collectors Digest, the SoHo News, The Philadelphia Bulletin, Films in Focus, Films and Filming, Slant, L.A. Panorama, Memories and Dreams, The East Hampton Independent, and Country Weekly,[9] as well as The Velvet Light Trap and Newsday,[10] and the Sag Harbor Express.[11] He conducts celebrity interviews for Dan's Papers, in a column called "Danny Peary Talks To..."[12]

Cult Movies books

In 1981, Peary released his book Cult Movies. He followed it up with Cult Movies 2 in 1983 and Cult Movies 3 in 1989. (See bibliography) These books cover critically ignored (at the time) cult films. Each book contained an essay for each film (100 in the first volume, 50 in the second,[13] and 50 in the third),[14] including production details and information gleaned from Peary's interviews with various producers, directors and actors. Each volume contained an essay by contributor Henry Blinder.[15] [16]

Peary also wrote Guide for the Film Fanatic (1986), reviewing a wider range of films.[17]

Peary's Cult Movies trilogy, along with other touchstones such as Michael Weldon's Psychotronic Video magazine and books, helped establish a foundation for critical analysis of low-budget genre movies. As the Austin Film Society wrote,

Sportswriting

Peary has co-authored books with Major League baseball player-sportscasters Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver; writer Tom Clavin; Olympic gold medalist and cancer survivor Shannon Miller on her memoir; and Muhammad Ali's daughter Hana Ali on a book about the origins of her father's greatest quotes. He has edited sports books including Baseball Immortal Derek Jeter: A Career in Quotes and Jackie Robinson in Quotes: The Remarkable Life of Baseball's Most Significant Player. (See bibliography)

Television career

Animated series

Peary wrote an episode of the 1985-1989 animated series ThunderCats, titled "The Mountain."[18] He wrote an episode of SilverHawks, titled "Undercover", that aired October 28, 1986.[19]

Sports-related television

Peary was a writer for the nationally syndicated sports-interview TV show The Tim McCarver Show[20]

Media appearances

Peary was interviewed for the 2010 documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed!. The director of the film, Mark Hartley, has said that, "I'd worn my copies of Cult Movies 1, 2 and 3 into the ground from constant re-reading so meeting author Danny Peary was a pleasure."[21] He appears in James Westby's documentary At the Video Store (2019),[22] and in the cult-movie documentary Time Warp (2020.[23]

Bibliography

Books

Co-author

Editor

Co-editor

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/peary-dannis-1949. Peary, Dannis 1949-. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. Encyclopedia.com. August 24, 2021.
  2. Web site: Miller. Michael. Miller: Not much to be disappointed about on Oscar Sunday. Los Angeles Times. March 3, 2014. August 23, 2019.
  3. Web site: Authors: Danny Peary. . . Workman Publishing Company. August 27, 2021.
  4. Web site: Wloszczyna. Susan. Share Your Love: Author Danny Peary on 'Cult Movies'. RogerEbert.com. April 21, 2016. August 21, 2019.
  5. Web site: Fuse Book Review: 'Silver Screen Fiend' — A Remembrance of Movie Madness Past. Peary, Gerald. January 29, 2015. The Arts Fuse. August 27, 2021. ...he relied on brilliant tomes penned by my film historian brother, Danny Peary..
  6. Web site: Carbone, Jones, and Varnson Don't Hide Their Smiling Faces. May 13, 2013. Danny Peary official blog. September 30, 2021. I grew up in South Carolina..
  7. Web site: About Danny Peary. Danny. Peary. Amazon.com. September 30, 2021. I was born in West Virginia, grew up in South Carolina and New Jersey. ... I have been living in New York City since 1977 with my wife Suzanne (our married daughter Zoe....
  8. Web site: Lindbergh. Ben. 'Cult Movies' at 40: Danny Peary on Constructing the Cult Canon and Cult Movies in the Internet Age. The Ringer. January 7, 2021. January 28, 2021. Long before broadband or dial-up, there was Cult Movies, a landmark book by critic Danny Peary. Peary, 71, has authored, coauthored, or edited more than two dozen books, mostly about movies or baseball. None of his work has resonated with readers more than the 1980s trilogy that began with Cult Movies (1981) and continued with Cult Movies 2 (1983) and Cult Movies 3 (1988). In Cult Movies, an oversized, 400-page paperback that remains revered by film buffs, Peary defined the inchoate concept of cult cinema and highlighted 100 'special films which for one reason or another have been taken to heart by segments of the movie audience, cherished, protected, and most of all, enthusiastically championed.'.
  9. Web site: Danny Peary. Simon & Schuster. September 30, 2021.
  10. Web site: Author Spotlight: Danny Peary. The Criterion Collection. September 30, 2021.
  11. News: (A list of articles by Danny Peary). Sag Harbor Express. September 30, 2021. September 30, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210930211332/https://sagharborexpress.com/tag/danny-peary/?wallit_nosession=1. dead.
  12. News: danny-peary Archives. Dan's Papers. August 21, 2019.
  13. Book: Cult Movies 2: Fifty More of the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird, and the Wonderful. 038529753X. Peary. Danny. June 1989. Delta .
  14. Book: Cult Movies 3: 50 More of the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird and the Wonderful. 0671648101. Peary. Danny. 1988. Simon & Schuster .
  15. Gordon, Robert, and Jubin, Olaf, editor. Book: The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical. https://books.google.com/books?id=ly6hDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22henry+blinder%22+%22cult+movies+2%22&pg=PA326. Footnotes. 326. 43. Henry Blinder, 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory', in Danny Peary, 'Cult Movies 2' (London: Vermillion, 1984), 169. Oxford University Press. 2016. 978-0-19-998876-1. ISBN 0199988749 and 978-0199988747.
  16. Web site: Seconds (1966). June 17, 2015. October 3, 2021. FilmFanatic. In Peary's Cult Movies 3, he includes an extended essay on Seconds written by Henry Blinder, who interviewed [John] Randolph, screenwriter John Carlino, composer Jerry Goldsmith, and producer Edward Lewis..
  17. Book: Guide for the Film Fanatic. 0671610813. Peary. Danny. 1986. Simon & Schuster .
  18. Web site: The Mountain. ThunderCats.org. Bruce. Smith. October 3, 2021.
  19. Web site: SilverHawks Episode Guide. ThunderCats.org. October 3, 2021.
  20. Web site: Credits. The Tim McCarver Show. Executive Producer: Jim Moskovitz; Director: Jeff Mitchell; Producers: Jim Moskovitz & Gregg Foster; Writers: Danny Peary & Jim Moskovitz.
  21. Web site: Brown. Todd. 5 Questions with 'Machete Maidens Unleashed' director Mark Hartley. TIFFMidnightMadness.blogspot.com. September 12, 2010. August 21, 2019.
  22. Web site: At the Video Store: 2019, Directed by James Westby. Letterboxd. October 3, 2021.
  23. News: Film review: 'Time Warp' is an open invitation to cult movies. The Augusta Chronicle. Andrew. Shearer. April 23, 2020. October 3, 2021. ...the presence of author Danny Peary ('Cult Movies”' book series) showed that the creative forces behind 'Time Warp' weren’t trying to define cult film as much as celebrate it..

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