The legendary film critic Andrew Sarris died on June 20 at age 83. Widely known as a champion of the auteur theory, which views a film as a personal vision articulated by the director, Sarris was a film critic at the Village Voice and New York Observer. In addition, he wrote numerous books on film including “The American Cinema: Directors and Directions (1929-1968)” — a proposal of his list of the “pantheon” of directors who had worked in America; taught film at numerous universities including Columbia and Yale; and has been cited as an influence by some of the most well-known film critics of today, including J. Hoberman, Kenneth Turan, Richard Corliss, and Armond White. He was also the husband of 2008 Forum Film Festival guest Molly Haskell, a film critic for publications including Vogue and New York Magazine. She appeared at the Forum to discuss “Adam’s Rib” with fellow critic Daniel M. Kimmel. Since her visit to the Forum, Haskell has made numerous other appearances, including a presentation of her paper on the femme fatale at the New School’s 2011 Noir Festival, and events to mark the publication of her fourth book, “Frankly, My Dear: Gone with the Wind Revisited.” In her description of meeting Sarris for the first time (at a 1966 screening of “Scorpio Rising”), Haskell remembered “he had this courtly-as-learned-from-the-movies manner. Afterward he took me out for a sundae at Howard Johnson.” This opening act in the story of a partnership of two powerful voices in American film criticism suggests that his death is also the loss of a man whose life was its own work of art.