Champlin was born in
Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in
Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the
Camden Advance-Journal and editor Florence Stone. His family has been active in the wine industry in upstate New York since 1855. He served in the infantry in Europe in
World War II and was awarded the
Purple Heart and battle stars. He graduated from
Harvard University in 1948 and joined
Life magazine. Champlin was a writer and correspondent for
Life and
Time magazine for seventeen years, and was a member of the
Overseas Press Club. He joined the
Los Angeles Times as entertainment editor and columnist in 1965, was its principal film critic from 1967 to 1980, and wrote book reviews and a regular column titled "Critic at Large". He co-founded the
Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and was a board member of the
American Cinematheque. Champlin's television career began in 1971 when he hosted
Film Odyssey on
PBS, introducing classic films and interviewing major directors. That same year, he hosted a live music series,
Homewood, for
KCET, the Los Angeles PBS station. For six years he co-hosted a public affairs program,
Citywatchers, on KCET with columnist Art Seidenbaum. He interviewed hundreds of film personalities, first on the
Z Channel's
On the Film Scene in Los Angeles, then with
Champlin on Film on
Bravo. Champlin taught film criticism at
Loyola Marymount University from 1969 to 1985, was adjunct professor of film at
USC from 1985 to 1996, and also taught at
UC Irvine and the
AFI Conservatory. He also wrote many books, including his biographies
Back There Where The Past Was (1989) and
A Life in Writing (2006). In 1980, Champlin was on the jury of the feature film competition at that year's
Cannes Film Festival, serving alongside the likes of
Kirk Douglas,
Ken Adam and
Leslie Caron. Twelve years later, in 1992, he was a member of the jury at the
42nd Berlin International Film Festival and served on the advisory board of the
Los Angeles Student Film Institute. In his later years, starting in the late 1990s, Champlin had
macular degeneration, and in 2001 wrote
My Friend, You Are Legally Blind, a
memoir about his struggle with the disease. He died on November 16, 2014, aged 88, suffering from
Alzheimer's disease. ==Bibliography==