A critic with a distinctive voice at the Post
Ann Hornaday died Sunday at her home in Baltimore after contending with glioblastoma, a brain cancer. She was 66. Her tenure at The Washington Post stretched from 2002 until 2025, more than twenty years in which she produced hundreds of reviews, extended profiles and feature stories. Among the films she examined at length were The Hurt Locker, Jaws and Oppenheimer.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
Matt Murray, the Post's executive editor, described in a statement circulated by the newspaper how readers had benefited for years from a critical voice he called informed, perceptive, warm, approachable and unlike any other. He compared the experience of reading her work to conversing with a close friend who happened to know far more than the reader did.[S1]
Pulitzer recognition and books on cinema
In 2008 Hornaday reached the final round of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, with a submission that included her assessment of There Will Be Blood alongside other pieces. She also wrote Talking Pictures, a volume devoted to the practice of watching movies, and before her death she finished a book about the production of All the President's Men.[S1]
From Steinem's assistant to a leading byline
Her route to the Post ran through several newsrooms and an unusual detour. She began as a freelance writer in New York, filing for outlets that included The New York Times and Premiere magazine, and earlier spent two years at Ms. Magazine as personal assistant to Gloria Steinem. She went on to serve as film critic at the Baltimore Sun and the Austin American-Statesman before arriving at the Post.[S1]
She was born Ann Mills Hornaday in Iowa City on March 9, 1960, and was adopted at birth by William R. Hornaday Jr. and Mary Mills, growing up in Des Moines. In 1982 she received a government degree from Smith College. While working as a critic, she also belonged to a Baltimore parish and taught Sunday school there. Survivors include Dennis Greenia, her husband of 26 years; their daughter Victoria Greenia; stepdaughter Leila Greenia; and her brother William Hornaday III.[S1]
