Tim Pulleine obituary

. UK edition

Tim Pulleine, bearded and in a leather jacket, smiles before a historic stone building
Tim Pulleine often deputised for the Guardian film critic Derek Malcolm, reviewing movies and interviewing actors Photograph: family handout

Other lives: Subeditor and film critic for a variety of publications

My former colleague Tim Pulleine, who has died aged 84, was a home news subeditor at the Guardian from 1976 until his retirement in 2007. He was also a highly regarded film critic, who, for well over a decade, between the late 1970s and early 90s, served as Derek Malcolm’s deputy at the Guardian, reviewing movies and interviewing actors.

He was a regular contributor to the British Film Institute’s Monthly Film Bulletin and Sight & Sound magazines, and to a number of other publications, on subjects including Ealing films, horror and Hollywood heart-throbs. He also wrote obituaries for the Guardian of movie figures including Omar Sharif, Jerry Lewis, Sir John Mills, Roger Vadim, David Hemmings and Glynis Johns, and conducted interviews with actors such as Ian McKellen.

Tim was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, one of the twin sons of Hubert Pulleine, a charity organiser, and Dorothy (nee Maughan), a housewife. He was educated at Silcoates school in Wakefield, and at Leeds College of Commerce (now Leeds Beckett University). He met his future wife, Ina Garner, in Manchester in 1970; they were married in 1972.

He began in journalism at his local paper, the Dewsbury Reporter, later joining the Spenborough Guardian. Moving on to national journalism, he worked as a subeditor at the Financial Times in London, and then at the Daily Telegraph in Manchester from 1968 until 1975, before joining the Guardian as a subeditor.

Film was a very important aspect of Tim’s life. Holidays with Ina usually included trips to the cinema, as well to the theatre and to art galleries, plus a wine tour. Colleagues on the Guardian’s home news subeditors’ desk cherished Tim for his warmth, courtesy and sharp sense of humour. It was a tradition for him to deliver a speech at every subeditors’ Christmas lunch, and occasional Saturday “awaydays” to cities around England.

After retirement he remained a regular attendee for a number of years at monthly pub reunions of Guardian “old lags” in Clerkenwell, near the paper’s London office.

He is survived by Ina, and by his twin brother, Christopher.