Robert Sklar

Robert Anthony Sklar (December 3, 1936 – July 2, 2011) was an American historian and author specializing in the history of cinema.

Sklar began his career as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He received a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University in 1965. In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.

He was a history professor at the University of Michigan, and in 1977, became a professor of cinema in the Department of Cinema Studies at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Early life and biography Sklar was born on December 3, 1936, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father was a high school teacher in Highland Park, New Jersey. Sklar was 9 years old when his family moved to Long Beach, California,

Sklar received a doctorate from Harvard in 1965. His dissertation became the title of his first book, F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Last Laocoon (1967).

Sklar was married twice and had two children.

Books

(with an introductory essay by Robert Sklar)