Joel Siegel

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Joel Steven Siegel (July 7, 1943 – June 29, 2007) was an American film critic for ABC morning news show Good Morning America for more than 25 years. Siegel died of colon cancer complications while working as a radio disc jockey and an advertisement copywriter in New York on June 29, 2007.

Early life and education

Siegel was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish family of Romanian descent. He received a commendation from the University of California, Los Angeles. In March 1911, his Romanian-born grandmother from Botoşani survived the explosion of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Siegel used to register black voters in Georgia during the Civil Rights Movement, and he often imagined meeting Martin Luther King Jr. He spent time at Senator Robert F. Kennedy's joke writer, and he was also at the Ambassador Hotel on the night the senator was assassinated. According to various outlets, he was also a student protester to the building of a football stadium on campus.

Personal life and death

Jane Kessler, Siegel's second wife, died of a brain tumor in 1982. In 1991, he joined Gene Wilder and others to create Gilda's Club, a non-profit group that provided social care to cancer patients and their families. Gilda Radner, Wilder's mother, died of ovarian cancer, and the group was named for her.

Ena Swansea, a composer, married Siegel's fourth wife on June 21, 1996. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1997, when he was 53 years old. Siegel was diagnosed one week earlier this week and learned he would be a father for the first time. Lessons for Dylan, he wrote about the ups and downs of his teenage son's life, realizing that he didn't live long enough to relate them. Siegel underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Dylan Thomas Jefferson Swansea Siegel, his infant son, was born on the same day he received his chemotherapy therapy. A CAT scan revealed a lesion on Siegel's left lung two years ago. Siegel continued to work on GMA after a pulmonary lobectomy and additional chemotherapy.

He was outspoken on the subject of colon cancer, and he appeared at a meeting of C-Change, a group of cancer experts from government, industry, and non-profit sectors chaired by former President George H. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush. During Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, he testified before the Senate in March 2005. "I came here from New York City this morning, hoping that I would suggest colonoscopy so that they did not have to go through what I went through." Siegel wrote a letter in The Oncologist, a peer-reviewed cancer medicine journal, titled "One at a Time" in June 2005. It chronicles his cancer diagnosis and observations up to that point.

He spoke at the CEO Roundtable on Cancer on May 10, 2007, less than two months before his death, when former President George H.W. Bush ordered corporate America to do something "bold and brave" about cancer. When Joel spoke at the Essex House in New York City on May 10, Bush and his wife Barbara were in the audience. "I want to thank you for what you are doing for cancer patients," he began and ended his speech.

Siegel died of metastatic colon cancer on June 29, 2007, just before his 64th birthday. Roger Ebert wrote a tribute to Joel in the honor of his death and said that he was "a brave man, and a hell of a kind guy."

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Career

Siegel worked in a variety of occupations through the 1960s, many of which were focused on the civil rights movement. He worked in the late 1960s, before heading to New York, as an advertisement copywriter and producer. He created and named ice cream flavors for Baskin-Robbins while working in television for Carson/Roberts Advertising. These flavors were: German Chocolate Cake; Peaches & Cream; Pralines & Cream; Strawberry Cheesecake; Strawberry Cheesecake; Green Cheesecake; Red, White and Blueberry; and Chilly Burgers.

He began working in radio as a disc jockey and newscaster, while continuing to work in advertising as a freelancer. He was given the opportunity to review books for the Los Angeles Times as a result of his freelance work.

Siegel's papers in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine were discovered by a CBS executive, and Siegel was hired as a special correspondent for WCBS-TV in New York. Joel developed signature pieces with a writer who later became a producer with WABC-TV's Eyewitness News. When Siegel's manager departed, he offered Siegel a regular on-air slot, which Joel accepted. Siegel suggested to Eyewitness News management that he be a film and theatre critic. He suggested that he would experiment with drop-ins from the movie or show being studied as drop-ins in his essays, then mixing them into his scripts as gags to create a new, witty way of analysis. Siegel also produced features for WCBS-AM Newsradio 88 named Joel Siegel's New York during his time at WCBS-TV.

Siegel was "the poor man's Gene Shalit," who depended "greatly on alliteration" in 1986.

He joined Good Morning America (GMA) in 1981 as a film critic. Although Siegel was busy writing, he wrote the book for The First, a Broadway musical based on Jackie Robinson's life for which he received a Tony Award nomination in 1982. He is the only drama critic to be voted on this award, which honors him. Siegel was also one of Roger Ebert's many guest critics on At The Movies in 1999 as a substitute for Gene Siskel following his death. Siegel was also a good friend of Roger Ebert.

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