Philip French: The Observer’s former film critic dies aged 82
The Observer’s former film critic Philip French has died at the age of 82.
French, who worked at the paper for over half a decade, is thought to have suffered a fatal heart attack on Tuesday morning.
His son Sean has told The Guardian: “He was extremely moral about his work.
“He didn’t see it in any frivolous way. One of the most shocking things to him was the idea of leaving a screening before the credits had rolled. It was one of the worst signs of decadence.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">V sad news: the Obs's peerless former film critic Philip French, who worked here for 50 years, has died, aged 82. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/5OCZmw6Jjr" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3100126-https://t.co/5OCZmw6Jjr" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/5OCZmw6Jjr</a> — Observer New Review (@ObsNewReview) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ObsNewReview/status/658965369361727490" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3100126-https://twitter.com/ObsNewReview/status/658965369361727490" data-vars-event-id="c23">October 27, 2015</a>
“I think he’d be very happy to be remembered as a film critic. He thought it was useful. Right up to day he died he did what he loved,” added son Patrick.
The writer and former radio producer retired from his job at The Observer in 2013, admitting that he’d always planned to stop working when he turned 80.
Back in 2013, he said: “I made up my mind some time ago that I would retire either on the week of the 50th anniversary of my first film column for the Observer which was in 1963 or on my 80th birthday.”
