Dannis Peary (born August 8, 1949) is an American film critic and sports writer. He has written and edited many books on cinema and sports-related topics. Peary is most famous for his book Cult Movies (1980), which spawned two sequels, Cult Movies 2 (1983) and Cult Movies 3 (1988) and are all credited for providing more public interest in the cult movie phenomenon. He is the brother of film critic, columnist, actor, and documentary filmmaker Gerald Peary.

Early life and education

Peary was born in Philippi, West Virginia, to Laura Chaitan and Joseph Y. Peary, a professor. During his childhood, he moved to South Carolina, and then New Jersey. In 1971, he earned a B.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He also worked as a film critic for the Daily Cardinal student newspaper. In 1975, he earned an M.A. in cinema, with honors, at the University of Southern California. While attending USC, he worked as the fine arts and sports editor for L.A. Panorama.

Personal life

Since 1977, Peary has lived in New York City. He and his wife Suzanne have a daughter, Zoe.

Career

Film criticism

Over the years, his film criticism has been published in FilmInk, Movieline, Satellite Direct, OnDirect TV, TV Guide, Canadian TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, the New York Daily News, The Boston Globe, Sports Collectors Digest, the SoHo News, The Philadelphia Bulletin, Films in Focus, Films and Filming, Slant, L.A. Panorama, Memories and Dreams, The East Hampton Independent, and Country Weekly, as well as The Velvet Light Trap and Newsday, and the Sag Harbor Express. He conducts celebrity interviews for Dan's Papers, in a column called "Danny Peary Talks To..."

Cult Movies books

In 1981, Peary released his book Cult Movies. He followed it up with Cult Movies 2 in 1983 and Cult Movies 3 in 1989. (See bibliography) These books cover critically ignored (at the time) cult films. Each book contained an essay for each film (100 in the first volume, 50 in the second, and 50 in the third), including production details and information gleaned from Peary's interviews with various producers, directors and actors. Each volume contained an essay by contributor Henry Blinder. Peary also wrote Guide for the Film Fanatic (1986), reviewing a wider range of films. Peary's Cult Movies trilogy, along with other touchstones such as Michael Weldon's Psychotronic Video magazine and books, helped establish a foundation for critical analysis of low-budget genre movies. As the Austin Film Society wrote, "There is what we might consider the Danny Peary faction. An excellent writer, Peary lionized a particular kind of “cult" criticism in his multiple volumes of the Cult Movies books. Never dismissive, Peary celebrates these films for their unique qualities and their advocacy of outsider voices. Peary is a fan of the subversive and the humanistic and the books are essential reading for anyone interested in what lies just outside the bounds of the canon."

Sportswriting

Peary has co-authored books with Major League baseball player-sportscasters Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver; writer Tom Clavin; Olympic gold medalist and cancer survivor Shannon Miller on her memoir; and Muhammad Ali's daughter Hana Ali on a book about the origins of her father's greatest quotes. He has edited sports books including Baseball Immortal Derek Jeter: A Career in Quotes and Jackie Robinson in Quotes: The Remarkable Life of Baseball's Most Significant Player. (See bibliography)

Television career

Animated series

Peary wrote an episode of the 1985-1989 animated series ThunderCats, titled "The Mountain." He wrote an episode of SilverHawks, titled "Undercover", that aired October 28, 1986.

Sports-related television

Peary was a writer for the nationally syndicated sports-interview TV show The Tim McCarver Show

Media appearances

Peary was interviewed for the 2010 documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed!. The director of the film, Mark Hartley, has said that, "I'd worn my copies of Cult Movies 1, 2 and 3 into the ground from constant re-reading so meeting author Danny Peary was a pleasure." He appears in James Westby's documentary At the Video Store (2019), and in the cult-movie documentary Time Warp (2020.

Books

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