Jay Scott

Jeffrey Scott Beaven, known professionally as Jay Scott, was a pioneering Canadian film critic whose voice reshaped the landscape of arts journalism in Canada. Born on October 4, 1949 in Lincoln, Nebraska, he grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico within a Seventh‑Day Adventist family, a community whose doctrines largely barred movie watching, an irony that would later fuel his passion for cinema. After studying art history at New College of Florida in Sarasota and taking acting classes at the University of New Mexico, he fled the United States in 1969 as a draft evader and settled in Calgary, where he began contributing film reviews to the Calgary Albertan, quickly earning a reputation for insightful commentary. His talent was recognized nationally when he won a National Newspaper Award in 1975 for a review of the stage production The Alberta Cowboy Show, prompting his move to Toronto in 1977 to join The Globe and Mail.

At The Globe and Mail Scott initially wrote an entertainment gossip column before transitioning to film criticism, a role in which he became Canada's most influential voice, winning two additional National Newspaper Awards and steering the paper away from a staid, repertory‑only arts coverage toward a more vivid, personality‑driven style. Beyond print, he hosted Jay Scott's Film International on TVOntario and authored three non‑fiction books—Midnight Matinees, Changing Woman: The Life and Art of Helen Hardin, and The Prints of Christopher Pratt—demonstrating his deep engagement with both film and visual art. His personal life intersected with his career; after a long partnership with Mary Bloom (1967‑1980) and a brief marriage, he came out as gay, later forming a relationship with Gene Corboy while battling an HIV diagnosis in 1986. Scott died of AIDS‑related causes on July 30, 1993, but his legacy endures through posthumous collections like Great Scott! The Best of Jay Scott's Movie Reviews, the annual Jay Scott Prize for emerging Canadian talent, and tributes from figures such as Roger Ebert and Clint Eastwood, cementing his status as a supremely well‑informed critic whose prose conveyed an unbridled passion for movies.