Ann Hornaday, Longtime Washington Post Film Critic, Dies at 66

Ann Hornaday, the longtime film critic at The Washington Post and author, died Sunday. She was 66.

Hornaday died at her home in North Baltimore after a battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, her husband Dennis Greenia told the Baltimore Banner.

A much-loved and respected film critic, Hornaday was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for criticism in 2008.

Born March 9, 1960, in Iowa City, Iowa, Hornaday grew up in Des Moines. She graduated from Smith College in 1982 with a degree in government and later moved to New York. She freelanced for Premiere, Us and worked at the feminist publication Ms. Magazine, and became co-founder Gloria Steinem’s administrative assistant.

After taking a journalism fellowship in Athens, Georgia, where she met her husband, Hornaday would go on to work at various newspapers, including the Austin American-Statesman and The Baltimore Sun, before joining The Washington Post in 2002, replacing previous critic Rita Kempley.

At the Post she became a national figure in film criticism writing hundreds of reviews, and was known for her accessible reviews that were free of pretension. During her run as a prominent critic, she also appeared on WYPR’s Midday at the Movies program. She left the Post in 2025 after taking a buyout.

In 2017, she wrote the book Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies, a practical guide for movie lovers on how to appreciate cinema and improve film literacy. Hornaday had also completed a book about the production of Alan J. Pakula’s classic 1976 political thriller All the President’s Men. That book is set to be published posthumously in 2028.

Hornaday is survived by her husband Dennis, daughters Victoria and Leila, and brother William.