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

Ann Hornaday, the chief film critic for The Washington Post whose work helped guide mainstream cinematic discourse for more than two decades, has died at age 66.

According to reporting by TheWrap citing the Post, Hornaday died Sunday from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Across a 20-year tenure at the newspaper, Hornaday authored hundreds of reviews, essays, and critical assessments of studio releases and independent cinema alike. Her body of work earned her recognition as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for criticism in 2008.

Post executive editor Matt Murray praised her long-standing relationship with readers. In a statement shared with TheWrap, Murray noted that audiences benefited from her informed and accessible perspective, adding that reading her reviews "was like talking with a close - if much more knowledgeable - friend."

For Hollywood Tomorrow and the wider entertainment business, Hornaday represented a diminishing cohort of legacy broadsheet critics whose institutional platforms carried significant cultural authority outside the studio marketing ecosystem. Her passing marks another substantial loss for traditional metropolitan arts journalism.