Leonard Maltin is one of the very few film historians to attain visibility as well as readability to a wide public. He began his career at the age of 15 as founder, publisher and editor of FILM FAN MONTHLY, which he would eventually oversee for nine years. His bearded, bespectacled mien, boyishly cracking voice and high-octane enthusiasm for the cinema won the gratitude of a wide public via a daily syndicated radio program, "Leonard Maltin on Video", and especially his roles as resident historian and later critic on the long-running syndicated TV ode to showbiz facts, fads and trivia, "Entertainment Tonight" (1982- ).
Maltin has authored numerous mainstream books on the cinema, taking a largely celebratory approach and spelunking for the unjustly forgotten film gem rather than writing academic or analytical works. He has distinguished himself particularly for his work on such sadly neglected aspects of film history as animation (via the now-standard "Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons") and movie shorts ("The Great Movie Shorts", "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang"). Among his other books, 1971's "Behind the Camera" was a study of film cinematographers, and his fondness for comedy led to his penning "The Great Movie Comedians", "Movie Comedy Teams" and "Carole Lombard".
Since 1969, Maltin has been the editor of the indispensable, annually updated reference book, "Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide" (formerly "TV Movies" and "TV Movies and Video Guide"). He has done free-lance curating and lecturing for a number of museum retrospective and college courses. Maltin also hosted, narrated, wrote and/or produced a number of TV specials, including "Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Max Fleischer Cartoons" (1992) and "Cliffhangers: Adventures from the Thrill Factory" (1993). In the 90s he augmented his historical journeys into the film past on "Entertainment Tonight" with a return to standard film reviewing. Maltin's most important contribution to film culture, though, has remained his excitement for all varieties of cinema, a feeling he has transmitted to millions with considerable success.