Fort Worth's Native Son Rex Reed Shoplifting, Starting Rumors, Dissing Korea & Starring In X-Rated Movies

You likely do not recognize the person in the picture. His name is Rex Reed.

Rex Reed got himself a well-earned reputation for being a bit of a nasty, mean-spirited movie critic.

I always assumed Rex Reed was a New Yorker, for some reason.

Here in the boondock known as Fort Worth, the local newspaper with the largest circulation, it being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has a habit of pointing out any possible remote connection between Fort Worth and some celebrity type in the news.

The Star-Telegram celebrity connection can be very tenuous, something like Joe Jones was once married to Fort Worth's Sprinkle Pants and visited Fort Worth once during the 1970s.

So, I was a bit surprised to learn that critic, Rex Reed, was born in Fort Worth on October 2, 1938, the son of Jewell and James M. Reed.I do not believe I have ever read mention of Rex Reed being a Fort Worth product.

I think I know why. Maybe it is because Rex Reed is a bit embarrassing to have known as a native son. He is a bit notorious.

Like the time, in February of 2000, when Rex Reed was arrested for shoplifting Peggy Lee, Mel Torme and Carmen McRae CDs from a Manhattan Tower Records. Peggy Lee was so impressed that Rex Reed went to so much effort to get her records that the sent him her entire CD catalog.

In 1993 Fort Worth's Rex Reed started the rumor that Jack Palance called out the wrong name at the Academy Awards for the Supporting Actress award, when he said Marisa Tomei's name. Reed claimed Jack Palance was confused due to being too drunk or stoned to be able to read the envelope. Four years later, in 1997, Rex Reed was still claiming there had been a massive cover-up to prevent the public from learning about this horribly serious Academy Award crime against humanity.

Then in 2005 Fort Worth's Rex Reed aggravated people by harshly reviewing a South Korean movie called Oldboy, writing, "What else can you expect from a nation weaned on Kimchi, a mixture of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots sold at the Seoul airport as souvenirs?"

Now, I think the Kimchi/Korean comment was funny. That Kimchi stuff is terrible.

Rex Reed is a bit on the old side of his life now, in his 70s.

Over the years Rex Reed has made a few acting appearances, including being in the X-Rated Gore Vidal debacle Myra Breckinridge, where he co-starred with Mae West, Raquel Welch and Farrah Fawcett. Fort Worth's Rex Reed was also in Inchon and played himself in one of the Superman movies. In the late 70s Rex Reed's tart tongue was a regular on The Gong Show.

To get a look and listen to of one of Fort Worth's favorite native sons, Rex Reed, watch the video below of a Rex Reed Appearance on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969, where Rex Reed disses John Wayne so bad it had to be bleeped out, while he discusses what he think about the 1969 Academy Awards.....