Peter Travers

Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943)^[1][2][3] is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts the film interview program Popcorn with Peter Travers for ABC News.

Peter Travers
Travers in 2008
Born	Peter Joseph Travers (1943-06-27) June 27, 1943 (age 81)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Manhattan College (BA) New York University (MA)
Occupations	Journalist film critic
Years active	1970–present
Spouses	Diane Harris ​ ​ (m. 1967, divorced)​ Robyn Lee Reeves ​ (m. 1980)​
Children	3

Early life and education

Travers grew up in Yonkers, New York,^[4] the son of Howard and Ruth Travers.^[5] He received a BA degree from Manhattan College in 1965 before graduating from New York University with an MA in English.^[6][7]

Career

According to eFilmCritic.com, Travers is the nation's most "blurbed" film critic.^[8] Travers' blurbs were being printed in newspapers as early as 1970, when he was a writer for Reader's Digest.^[9] By the mid-1970s, he was a film critic for The Herald Statesman, a Yonkers newspaper.^[10] In the 1980s, he wrote for People for four years before joining Rolling Stone in 1989.^[11] In 2020, he departed Rolling Stone and became the film critic for ABC News.^[12]

Travers hosts the New York Film Critics Series, a company that hosts live-streamed screening events and discussions,^[13] as well as the ABC News show Popcorn with Peter Travers, where he interviews actors and directors about the latest projects and their lives.^[14]

Personal life

Travers married Diane Harris of White Plains, New York in 1967; the marriage ended in divorce.^[3][15] In 1980, Travers married Robyn Lee Reeves, an actress and graduate of Vassar College, in an Episcopalian ceremony.^[3] He has three children: Jennifer, David and Alex.^[16]

Preferences

Favorites

In 2010, When asked to rank the best films of the 2000s decade, Travers named:^[17]

• 1. There Will Be Blood (2007)
• 2. Children of Men (2006)
• 3. Mulholland Drive (2001)
• 4. A History of Violence (2005)
• 5. No Country for Old Men (2007)
• 6. The Incredibles (2004)
• 7. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
• 8. The Departed (2006)
• 9. Mystic River (2003)
• 10. The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003)

Best of the year

Since his career as a film critic from People to Rolling Stone, Travers marked these films the best of the year:

• 1989 - Do the Right Thing
• 1990 - Goodfellas
• 1991 - The Silence of the Lambs
• 1992 - The Player
• 1993 - Short Cuts
• 1994 - Pulp Fiction
• 1995 - Get Shorty
• 1996 - The People vs. Larry Flynt
• 1997 - Titanic
• 1998 - The Truman Show
• 1999 - American Beauty
• 2000 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• 2001 - Memento (Indie list)
  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Hollywood list)^[18]
• 2002 - Gangs of New York
• 2003 - Mystic River
• 2004 - Sideways
• 2005 - A History of Violence
• 2006 - The Departed
• 2007 - No Country for Old Men
• 2008 - Milk
• 2009 - Precious
• 2010 - The Social Network
• 2011 - Drive
• 2012 - The Master
• 2013 - 12 Years a Slave
• 2014 - Boyhood
• 2015 - Spotlight
• 2016 - La La Land
• 2017 - Dunkirk
• 2018 - Roma
• 2019 - The Irishman
• 2020 - Da 5 Bloods
• 2021 - The Power of the Dog
• 2022 - Everything Everywhere All at Once
• 2023 - Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer^[19]
• 2024 - The Brutalist

References

1. "Births". The Herald Statesman. July 2, 1943. p. 9. Retrieved February 20, 2025. Travers—To Howard and Ruth Wolsey Travers...June 27, a son, Peter.
2. "Picks and Pans Review: Lollipop Dragon: The Great Christmas Race". People. December 21, 1987. Retrieved May 5, 2022. Peter Travers, 43, agrees: 'I couldn't stand it.'
3. "P.J. Travers Weds Robyn Lee Reeves". The New York Times. September 28, 1980. p. 68.
4. Travers, Peter (March 31, 2020). "Movie Love in the Time of the Coronavirus". Rolling Stone. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
5. "He Provides Background on 'Exorcist'". The Herald Statesman. Yonkers, New York. November 20, 1974. p. 7.
6. "43 Yonkers Men Win Degrees at Riverdale's Manhattan College". The Herald Statesman. Yonkers, New York. June 9, 1965. p. 56.
7. "Peter Travers Official Biography". ABC News. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018.
8. Childress, Erik. "Criticwatch 2008 - The Whores of the Year". eFilmCritic.com. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
9. "One of the Year's 10 Best!". The New York Daily News. December 29, 1970. p. 57.
10. Travers, Peter (November 9, 1976). "Star of 'Sarah' Visits Westchester". The Herald Statesman. Yonkers, New York. p. 21.
11. "New York Film Critics Circle: Peter Travers". New York Film Critics Circle. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
12. Friedman, Roger (September 8, 2020). "Exclusive: Peter Travers Exits Rolling Stone after 36 Years as Chief Film Critic, Made Magazine Important in Hollywood: 'It's been a hell of a ride'". Showbiz 411. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
13. "NY Film Critics Series". Nyfilmcriticsseries.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
14. "Popcorn". ABC News. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
15. "Peter J. Travers". The Herald Statesman. Yonkers, New York. July 7, 1967. p. 32.
16. "Ruth Travers Obituary". Legacy. March 10, 2006. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
17. "10 Best Movies of the Decade". Rolling Stone. December 3, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
18. Travers, Peter (December 27, 2001). "The Best of 2001". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
19. Travers, Peter (December 26, 2023). "Review: The 10 best movies of 2023". ABC News. Retrieved December 26, 2023.

External links

• Peter Travers at Good Morning America