Personal Life
Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, Bačka Oblast, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, (after 1929) known as Yugoslavia (now North Bačka District, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia). He is of Hungarian descent. The son of Joseph and Margaret (née Reves) Simmon, he grew up in Belgrade before immigrating to the United States in 1941 on a tourist visa to join his father. By 1944 he was in United States Army Air Force basic training camp in Wichita Falls, Texas.
He attended Harvard University where he earned a B.A., an M.A., and a Ph.D. Simon has written theater, film, music, and book reviews for publications such as New York, Esquire, The Hudson Review, National Review, Opera News, The New Leader, Commonweal, The New Criterion and The New York Times Book Review. He also contributes a monthly essay to The Weekly Standard.
Simon was the theater critic at New York magazine for 36 years from October 1968 until May 2005. He wrote theater reviews for Bloomberg News from June 2005 through November 2010. He currently reviews theater for The Westchester Guardian and Yonkers Tribune.
Simon lives in New York City.
Read more about this topic: John Simon (critic)
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