[1] He attended public schools in New York, then matriculated at Wesleyan University - studying history and joining EQV Fraternity before graduating in 1963.
[1] In the 1960s, Byron worked for a year as a reporter and reviewer for Variety, and in 1971 he became the film-review columnist for The Village Voice at a time when the American film art and the dialogue surrounding it were being completely revised.
Byron also became well known for his "World's Hardest Movie Quiz" features in The Village Voice (which briefly returned to the paper in his memory from 1999 to 2004), and later for his "Rules of the Game" columns.
He also achieved national notoriety for remarks made in 1981, when he accused critic Pauline Kael of making homophobic comments in her reviews.
Although he returned to writing in 1984, he remained in California for the rest of his life; his work regularly appeared in LA Weekly, and the gay news magazine The Advocate.