Mr. Morgenstern s first job in journalism was as a news clerk at the New York Times, where he later became a foreign correspondent, reporting from Switzerland and France. He was an entertainment reporter, and then a theater and movie critic, for the New York Herald Tribune. In the 1960's and 1970's he was Newsweek magazine's film critic. From 1983 to 1988 he was a columnist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. His freelance writing has appeared in publications including the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Playboy, GQ and the Columbia Journalism Review. He has also written for television; his scripts include "The Boy In the Plastic Bubble" and several episodes of "Law & Order."

Mr. Morgenstern is a founding member of the National Society of Film Critics, and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. He was graduated magna cum laude from Lehigh University, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa.