Former Georgetown English professor and film critic, Joel E. Siegel, passed away from spinal meningitis on Thursday. Siegel taught at Georgetown for over three decades and introduced film studies classes to the university. He retired in 1998.
But teaching was only his day job. Siegel also made time to review films for the Washington City Paper, produce jazz albums and win a Grammy.
Arriving at Georgetown in 1966, Siegel taught the first film studies courses at Georgetown and gradually expanded the offerings until his retirement. “He taught a hugely popular class called Elements of Film, which enrolled 40 to 60 people every semester, year after year. Film Studies at Georgetown emerged out of that,” said Professor John Glavin, a friend and colleague of Siegel in the English Department.
The passion Siegel had for movies was not restricted by the university walls. The same year he began teaching at Georgetown, Siegel started reviewing films for a former local paper. The Washington Post reported that he moved on to the Washington City Paper in the early 1980s. Siegel, not to be confused with the Good Morning America film reviewer Joel Siegel, continued as a critic after retiring as a professor. Siegel’s last review, which appeared in January, was of Francis Ford Coppola’s One From the Heart, one of his favorite films.
Siegel did not limit himself to cinema. He was also very active on the Washington jazz scene. According to the Washington Post, when he was a professor, Siegel spearheaded several concert series in the District, managed artists, and reviewed jazz albums for National Public Radio.
Siegel shared a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Liner Notes, for a book accompanying a Billie Holiday compilation set. He also masterminded the return of jazz singer Shirley Horn in the 1980s and 1990s, and she went on to win a Grammy for best Jazz Vocal Performance herself in 1998.
Most of Siegel’s published work was in response to other artists, but Glavin stressed that he was talented in his own right. “He was a gifted writer himself, an extremely talented stylist with language,” Glavin said.
Siegel studied under Vladimir Nabokov and remained a supporter of the provocative author of Lolita, among other novels.
