William Wolf Former Drama Desk President Dies from COVID19 Complications

 

It is with great sadness that I write that William Wolf died from complications related to COVID-19 on Saturday, March 28.

Author, critic, and educator, Bill was the 22nd president of the Drama Desk. He also served a term as chair of the New York Film Critics Circle.

William was part of a golden age in magazine journalism in New York. Beginning in 1964, he was film critic for Cue Magazine. When Cue was absorbed into New York Magazine, he became an editor and critic there. In the 1980s, his film criticism and features were syndicated by Gannett.

William is author of The Marx Brothers (1975), a volume of the Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies, and, with his wife, Lillian Kramer Wolf, of Landmark Films: The Cinema and Our Century (1979). As an academic, he had a long association with New York University, teaching film-related classes in multiple departments. In recent years, he conducted a popular movie preview class at Lincoln Center, where he screened and discussed soon-to-to-be-released motion pictures and interviewed filmmakers and actors.

Throughout his career, William was a prolific interviewer. His taped conversations with actors, directors, and other film and theater artists are included in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the New York Library of the Performing Arts.

He founded the Entertainment Guide in 1998, a digital publication for film and theater reviews.

As yet, no funeral or memorial plans are being announced, and Bill’s family hasn’t designated a preferred recipient or recipients of memorial gifts.

Personally, it was Bill Wolf who was responsible for my joining Drama Desk. He, Lillian and I would always have lively discussions meeting at the theater and events. He will be sorely missed.