Jeffrey Lyons (born November 5, 1944) is an American television and film critic based in the New York metropolitan area. Early life Lyons was born in Manhattan, one of the four sons of Sylvia R. (Schoenberger) and Leonard Lyons, a newspaper columnist. His godfather was the playwright Sidney Kingsley and his godmother was the actress Madge Evans. As a teenager, he trained as a field goal kicker with the New York Giants for three seasons (1961–63) and studied bullfighting for seven summers in Spain with Antonio Ordonez, characterized by Ernest Hemingway (a mutual friend) as "the greatest matador of them all" in The Dangerous Summer. He received his undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Pennsylvania before earning a J.D. from the Syracuse University School of Law in 1969. During this period, he studied acting with Lee Strasberg at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. Career Lyons began his professional career working on the city desk of The Jersey Journal, writing sports and obituaries. After publishing a story as an intern on the Metropolitan desk of The New York Times, he covered the two national political conventions of 1968 for WINS. From 1970 to 1991, Lyons was the film critic for WPIX. Following the departure of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, he co-hosted the PBS movie review show Sneak Previews from 1982 to 1996. He also appeared on MSNBC's At the Movies from 2004 to 2006 with his son, fellow critic and television personality Ben Lyons. On American AM radio, he hosted a show, "The Lyons Den," on WCBS (AM) from 1975 to 1993; the title is taken from the New York Post column that his father wrote for 40 years. He joined WNBC in 1996 as the station's film and theatre critic. His last report on WNBC was on June 26, 2009. He reported during Live at Five and NewsChannel 4 newscasts. Lyons created and co-hosted the NBC syndicated movie review TV show Lyons & Bailes Reel Talk from 2005-09. He currently hosts a syndicated radio program called "LYONS DEN RADIO" and appears on several national TV shows talking movies. In addition to his work as a critic, he has appeared as himself in The French Connection, Deathtrap, and the TV series Wiseguy. Lyons is the author or co-author of seven books, including Jeffrey Lyons' 101 Great Movies for Kids. He and his brother Douglas have written several baseball