Legendary film critic and presenter David Stratton has died.
Legendary film critic and presenter David Stratton has died, aged 85.
Stratton’s family said he died peacefully in a hospital near his home in the Blue Mountains in NSW.
They said his “passion for film, commitment to Australian cinema, and generous spirit touched countless lives”, and that he was “adored as a husband, father, grand and great-grandfather and admired friend”.
Stratton worked for SBS from 1980 to 2004, working as a film consultant and introducing films for 28 years. He coaxed producer Margaret Pomeranz on air for what becaeme the much-loved The Movie Show from 1986 to 2004.
They later moved to ABC rebranding it as At the Movies from 2004 until 2014.
British-born Stratton moved to Australia as a “ten-pound Pom” under the scheme created by the Chifley government immigration drive in 1963.
Just three years later he became director of the Sydney Film Festival, a job he landed due to his reputation for fighting film censorship, and held until 1983.
Stratton also wrote film reviews for the Weekend Australian for more than 30 years, and lectured in film history at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Continuing Education.
Documentary film David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, written and directed by Sally Aitken, was released in 2017.
He also appeared in several other programs, including The Chaser’s War on Everything, Review with Myles Barlow, Good Game, Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight, Lawrence Leung’s Choose Your Own Adventure, Dance Academy, and The Bazura Project, often parodying himself.
This post updates.