- Joel Siegel
Infobox actor television
name = Joel Siegel
birthname = Joel Siegel
birthdate = birth date|1943|7|7
birthplace = Los Angeles, CA
deathdate = death date and age|2007|06|29|1943|07|07
deathplace = New York, NY
occupation =Television Journalist /Film critic
spouse =Ena Swansea
(1996 - 2007) (his death)
children = Dylan Siegel
credits = "Good Morning America " Entertainment Editor (1981–2007)
imdb_id = 0796954Joel Siegel (
July 7 ,1943 –June 29 ,2007 ) was an Americanfilm critic for the ABC morning news show "Good Morning America " for over 25 years. Born to aJewish family, and raised inLos Angeles, California , he graduated "cum laude " fromUCLA . [http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/29/siegel.obit.ap/index.html "Movie critic Joel Siegel dies"] CNN.com. Accessed2007-06-29 .] During college, he worked to register black voters in Georgia, and he spoke frequently of having metDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also worked as a joke writer for SenatorRobert F. Kennedy and was at theAmbassador Hotel the night the senator was assassinated.Siegel died of complications from
colon cancer onJune 29 ,2007 , inNew York . [ [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3324632&page=1 Joel Siegel dies of cancer at age 63] - Accessed2007-06-29 .]The 1960s
Siegel worked at a range of jobs throughout the 1960s, often concentrating on the civil rights movement. In the late 60s, before moving to New York, he worked as an advertising agency copywriter and producer. While working in advertising for Carson/Roberts Advertising, he invented and named ice cream flavors for
Baskin-Robbins .cite web | url = http://www.wchstv.com/abc/gma/joelsiegel.shtml | title = Joel Siegel: Entertainment Editor on Good Morning America] These flavors were: German Chocolate Cake; Peaches & Cream; Pralines & Cream; Blueberry Cheesecake; Strawberry Cheesecake; Green Cheesecake; Red, White and Blueberry; and Chilly Burgers.cite web | url = http://www.nndb.com/people/490/000024418/ | title = NNDB: Joel Siegel | accessdate = 2007-07-02]He began working in radio as a
disc jockey and newscaster, while continuing tofreelance in advertising. Through his freelance work, he was offered the book review position with the "Los Angeles Times ".The 1970s and early career
Siegel's essays in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine were spotted by a CBS executive, and Siegel was hired as a feature correspondent for
WCBS-TV in New York. Joel created signature work teamed with a producer who later became an executive at WABC-TV's Eyewitness News. When Siegel's producer moved, he offered Siegel a featured on-air position, and Joel accepted. Siegel proposed to Eyewitness News management that he become a film and theater critic. He suggested that he would innovate the form by using brief clips from the movie or show being reviewed as drop-ins into his reviews, working them into his scripts as gags to create a new, witty form of review. Stories that suggest he first reviewed the feature "Magic" and used a ventriloquist's dummy are inaccurate. Siegel also, during his years at WCBS-TV, created features for WCBS-AM Newsradio 88 called Joel Siegel's New York.Good Morning America and later career
In 1981 he joined "
Good Morning America " as a film critic. While Siegel worked at his reviewing, he wrote the book for "The First", a Broadway musical based on the story ofJackie Robinson , for which he received aTony Award nomination in 1982.Clerks II Controversy
On
July 17 2006 , at the forty-minute mark of the film "Clerks II ", Siegel walked out of the theater while announcing, "First movie I've ever walked out on in 30 fucking years." [http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=263Clerks II ] [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206167,00.html Lisa Live: Truce Called in 'Clerks II' Spat] ] DirectorKevin Smith strongly criticized his behavior as disruptive and unprofessional [ [http://www.tmz.com/2006/07/19/smith-vs-siegel-round-2/ TMZ: Smith vs. Siegel -- Round 2] ] in his blog. [http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=263 Kevin Smith Silent Bob Speaks] ] Smith expressed his surprise toCNN , noting, "we got an eight-minute standing ovation in Cannes for "Clerks II". ... When you can send Joel Siegel screaming from your picture ... I think you've got something good." [ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/19/sbt.01.html Transcript, Showbiz Tonight, Aired July 19, 2006 - 19:00:00 ET] ] The next day, Siegel apologized to Smith on theOpie and Anthony comedy radio program, calling Smith "a fine filmmaker", but defended his actions, adding that "movies might be better if more people did what I did." [http://www.viewaskew.com/kevin/joelsiegel.mp3 Heated Interview between Kevin Smith and Joel Siegel] ]Cancer
Siegel's second wife, Jane Kessler, died of brain cancer in the mid 1980s. In 1991, he joined with the actor
Gene Wilder to foundGilda's Club , a nonprofit organization that provided social support for cancer patients and their families. The organization was named for Wilder's wife,Gilda Radner , who died of ovarian cancer.On
June 21 1996 , Siegel married his fourth wife, artistEna Swansea . In 1997, at age 53, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. One week after being diagnosed, Siegel found out he would be a father for the first time. He wrote the book "Lessons for Dylan" which shares the ups and downs of his life with his young son, as he might not live long enough to relate those stories in person. [ [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125181&page=1 "Lessons for Dylan" (excerpt from Siegel's 2003 book)] ]Siegel underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. He welcomed his newborn son, Dylan Thomas Jefferson Swansea Siegel, home on the same day he completed his chemotherapy treatments. Two years later, a CAT scan revealed a lesion on Siegel's left lung. After a pulmonary lobectomy and additional chemotherapy, Siegel continued to work on GMA.
He was outspoken on the subject of colon cancer, and in 2005 spoke at a meeting of C-Change, a group of cancer experts from government, business, and non-profit sectors, chaired by former President
George H.W. Bush and former first ladyBarbara Bush . [ [http://www.c-changetogether.org/about_ndc/newsroom/e_collaborating/CChange07Sum05.pdf e-collaborating (and communicating) to battle cancer issue #3 summer 2005] ]He testified before the Senate during Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, March 2005. "I came here from New York City this morning hoping that I would encourage someone to have a colonoscopy so that they would not have to go through what I went through," he told a Senate panel. [ [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3333655&page=1 ABC News: Siegel Passionate About Cancer Awareness] - Accessed
2007 -07-02 ] In June 2005, Siegel published a letter in the peer-reviewed cancer medicine journal, "THE ONCOLOGIST". [ [http://www.TheOncologist.com The Oncologist ] ] Entitled, "One at a Time"," it poignantly shared his cancer diagnosis and experiences to that date. [ [http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/10/7/558 One at a Time - Siegel 10 (7): 558 - The Oncologist ] ]On
May 10 ,2007 , less than two months before his death, he spoke before the "CEO Roundtable on Cancer", [ [http://www.CEORoundtableOnCancer.org CEO Roundtable on Cancer - CEO ROUNDTABLE HOME ] ] an association of corporate executives that was formed when former President Bush asked corporate America to do something "bold and venturesome" about cancer. The forty-first President and former First Lady were in the audience when Joel spoke onMay 10 at the Essex House in New York City. He began and ended his presentation by saying, "I want to thank you for what you are doing for cancer patients."Joel Siegel died from
metastatic colon cancer onJune 29 2007 shortly before what would have been his 64th birthday. His family has said the last movie he saw was "Ratatouille" with his son.Awards
Siegel received five New York Emmy awards and a public-service award from the
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association Award for general excellence in individual reporting.In 1982 he was nominated for a Tony for writing the book for the Broadway musical "The First", about baseball legend
Jackie Robinson . [cite web | url = http://www.broadwayworld.com/tonyawardsyear.cfm?year=1982 | title = 1982 Tony Award Winners ] [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=bios&id=3301239 "Joel Siegel" on WABC-TV New York website] . Accessed 30 June 2007.] This marks him as the only drama critic to receive this nominationWorks
*Siegel, Joel. "Lessons for Dylan: On Life, Love, the Movies, and Me". PublicAffairs, 2003. ISBN 978-1586481278
References
External links
*imdb|0796954
*tv.com person|id=171273|name=Joel Siegel
* [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/JoelSiegel/ Joel Siegel's ABC Website]
* [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070629/PEOPLE/70629001 A memoriam] written byRoger Ebert
* [http://www.viewaskew.com/news/jul06/1.html Kevin Smith's Response] Contains mp3 of Smith's confrontation with Siegel on theOpie and Anthony show onJuly 18 2006 .
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