Judith Krantz (née Tarcher; January 9, 1928 – June 22, 2019) was a magazine writer and fashion editor who turned to fiction as she approached the age of 50. Her first novel ''
Scruples
Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...
'' (1978) quickly became a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' best-seller and went on to be a worldwide publishing success, translated into 50 languages. ''Scruples'', which describes the glamorous and affluent world of high fashion in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, California, helped define a new supercharged sub-genre of the
romance novel
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimis ...
- the
bonkbuster ''Bonkbuster'' (a play on "blockbuster" and the verb " to bonk") is a term coined in 1989 by British writer Sue Limb to describe a subgenre of commercial romance novels in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as their subsequent miniseries adaptations. The ...
or "sex-and-shopping" novel. She also fundamentally changed the publishing industry by becoming one of the first celebrity authors through her extensive touring and promotion - "a superstar of fiction".Hamilton, Jeff, Jones, Brian. ''Encyclopedia of American Popular Fiction'' (2010), p 199 /ref> Her later books included ''
Princess Daisy
is a fictional character in the ''Mario'' series of video games. She debuted in 1989's ''Super Mario Land'' as the ruler of Sarasaland. Described as a tomboy, she used to be rumored to be Luigi's love interest, similarly to Princess Peach b ...
'' (1980), '' Till We Meet Again'' (1988), ''Dazzle'' (1990) and ''Spring Collection'' (1996). Her autobiography, ''Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl'', was published in 2000.''Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl'' (2000) /ref>
Biography
Early years
Judith Bluma-Gittel Tarcher was born on January 9, 1928, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, the daughter of Mary (Braeger), a Lithuanian-born attorney, and Jack D. Tarcher, an advertising executive. Her family was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. The "youngest, smartest, and shortest girl" in her year, she graduated from the upscale Birch Wathen School at age 16. Krantz then enrolled at
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...
.
Krantz told ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' in 1982 that she attended Wellesley with three goals: to date, to read every novel in the library, and to graduate. "Torchy", as her dormmates named her, held the dorm dating record as the only one to have 13 consecutive dates with 13 different men. Her grades were not as impressive as her extracurricular activities. Krantz earned one A-plus in English, but had a B− average in her major and C average in everything else. Krantz had the opportunity to improve her marks when she took a short-story class during her sophomore year. Although the professor enjoyed her writing, he refused to give her an A because she had atrocious spelling, and he thought the B would teach her a lesson. Krantz claims to have learned the lesson well—she did not write fiction again for 31 years.
After graduating from Wellesley in 1948, Krantz moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, where she worked in fashion
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
. She enjoyed attending elegant parties, borrowing couture gowns, and meeting prominent people such as
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
,
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
and
Hubert de Givenchy
Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (; 21 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the p ...
.
Magazines
The following year, Krantz returned to New York City, where she embarked on a career in magazine journalism. She worked in the fiction department at ''
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...
'' before being promoted to fashion editor and having the opportunity to write several articles for the magazine.
In 1953 Krantz attended a Fourth of July party hosted by her high school friend,
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...
. There she met her future husband, the future film and television producer
Steve Krantz
Stephen Falk Krantz (May 20, 1923 – January 4, 2007) was a film producer and writer, most active from 1966 to 1996.
Career
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Krantz graduated from Columbia University and went on to serve in the U.S. Army Air Fo ...
. The two were married the following year, on February 19, 1954. Three years later, she gave birth to their first son, and she gave up her full-time job, choosing instead to write part-time from home. She wrote many freelance articles for ''
Maclean's
''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...
'', ''
McCall's
''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...
'', ''
Ladies' Home Journal
''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...
'', and ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
.'' Her best-known article was "The Myth of the Multiple Orgasm", which was published in ''Cosmopolitan.'' Her magazine career gave Krantz an opportunity to interview many prominent women.
Novels
In 1976, Krantz's husband decided to take flying lessons. Krantz chose to join him, despite the fact that she was afraid of flying. Having conquered that fear, she determined to face her other fears. For the first time since college, she attempted to write fiction. Although her husband had been insisting for years that she was a natural storyteller, Krantz believed that she was writing the book simply to prove to him that she was not able to write good fiction.
She completed her first novel, ''
Scruples
Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...
'', nine months later. The year it was published, 1978, Krantz turned 50. In an unusual turn of events for the time, the books were not copyrighted under her own name but by Steve Krantz Productions. That first novel reached the number one spot on ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' bestseller list. There were two sequels: ''Scruples Two'' (1992) and ''Lovers'' (1994).
Her second novel, ''Princess Daisy'', followed in 1980 and netted her an astounding $5 million before its publication. It also became a number one best seller, with the paperback rights selling for a then-record $3.2 million. It concerns the fabulously wealthy and glamorous Daisy, daughter of a Russian prince, who has to confront and overcome many harsh realities. The book is notable for having received one of the most scathing reviews ever written, by
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.I'll Take Manhattan'' (1986), (about writer and socialite Maxi Amberville, a thinly disguised portrait of the author). ''Till We Meet Again'' (1988) which starts in the music halls of 1910s Paris and continues on until after the Second World War, was the last to make the annual top ten bestseller lists, though the later novels continued to be popular.
''Spring Collection'' (1996) returns to the world of fashion, while ''The Jewels of Tessa Kent'' (1998) explores mother-daughter relationships - Krantz had a difficult relationship with her own mother. She retired from writing that year at the age of 70, saying she had nothing left to say to her readers. Over 80 million copies of her books are in print in over 50 languages. Seven of her novels have also been adapted for television (as either films or mini-series), with her husband having served as executive producer for some of them. She also wrote one original mini-series for television, ''Judith Krantz's "Secrets"'', in 1992.
Family
Krantz served on the Advisory Board of
Compassion & Choices
Compassion & Choices is a nonprofit organization in the United States working to improve patient autonomy and individual choice at the end of life, including access to medical aid in dying. Its primary function is advocating for and ensuring acce ...
, an organization dedicated to providing choices for the dying. In 2006, she joined the Board of the
Los Angeles Music Center
The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...
.
Krantz's husband, Steve Krantz, died in 2007 of pneumonia. The couple had two sons,
Tony Krantz
Tony Krantz (born June 16, 1959) is an American film and television producer, writer, and director. Krantz started his career in the American entertainment industry as an agent, spending 15 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). He started the ...
and Nicholas Krantz, both of whom reside in the
Los Angeles area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Cou ...
. Krantz was the sister-in-law of children's entertainer and television host
Shari Lewis
Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody-winning American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, and symphonic conductor. She wa ...
, who was married to Krantz's brother, Jeremy P. Tarcher, publisher of nonfiction books on health, psychology and New Age spirituality. Jeremy’s daughter, Krantz’s niece, is entertainer Mallory Lewis.
Death
Krantz died on June 22, 2019, at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Works
Novels
* ''
Scruples
Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...
Princess Daisy
is a fictional character in the ''Mario'' series of video games. She debuted in 1989's ''Super Mario Land'' as the ruler of Sarasaland. Described as a tomboy, she used to be rumored to be Luigi's love interest, similarly to Princess Peach b ...
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...
* ''Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl'' (2000) (autobiography)
Original television work
* ''Judith Krantz's "Secrets"'' (1992 TV mini-series, not based on a source novel)
* ''
Torch Song
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affect ...
'' (1993) (adapted as a 1993
made-for-TV movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature film, feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical f ...