American historian
Gerald Mast |
|---|
| Born | (1940-05-13)May 13, 1940
|
|---|
| Died | September 1, 1988(1988-09-01) (aged 48)
|
|---|
| Occupation | Film historian |
|---|
Gerald Mast (May 13, 1940 – September 1, 1988) was an author, film historian, and member of the University of Chicago faculty. He was a contributor to the modern discipline of film studies and film history.
Life and career
Mast was born in Los Angeles in 1940;[1] his family included his mother, Bessie, and Linda, his sister.[2] He attended the University of Chicago, where he received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in English.[3] He taught at New York University, Oberlin College, and the Richmond College of the City University of New York, before joining the faculty of his alma mater in 1978.[2] He chaired the Department of English Language and Literature,[4] and his donation of 300 film prints established the university's Film Studies Center and Film Archive.[3][5] The university press published several of his books on the history and critical analysis of film.[3]
His works were influential in the development of the academic study of film history, including the application of the Chicago School of literary criticism to film analysis,[3] and several of his books, including A Short History of the Movies and Film Theory and Criticism, have been widely incorporated into university film studies programs.[2][6]
Criticism
Mast faced some criticism for his opposition to Hollywood auteurism by some of his peers.[6][7]
Death and legacy
On September 1, 1988, Mast, age 48, died at Bernard Mitchell Hospital from complications of AIDS. At a time when public figures in the arts often remained unwilling to be associated with the disease,[4] Mast requested that his obituaries include his cause of death.[3] In a retrospective in Cinema Journal, Tag Gallagher compared him to French film critic Jean Mitry, and described him as America's "film-scholar laureate".[6]
Mast's partner, actor Peter Burnell - best known for his role as Dr. Mike Powers on the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors - preceded him in death. Burnell was diagnosed with AIDS, and died by suicide by hanging on Jan. 5th, 1987 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 44.
