Judith Crist facts for kids

Judith Crist (born Judith Klein; May 22, 1922 – August 7, 2012) was a well-known American film critic and a college professor. A film critic watches movies and then writes or talks about them, sharing their opinions with others.

Judith Crist was one of the first women to work full-time as a critic for a major American newspaper, The New York Herald Tribune. She also appeared often on the Today TV show from 1964 to 1973. Later, she became the first film critic for New York magazine. Many people also knew her from her work at TV Guide magazine. She even appeared in a movie called Stardust Memories (1980) and wrote several books about films.

Early Life and Education

Judith Klein was born in The Bronx, a part of New York City, on May 22, 1922. Her mother, Helen, was a librarian, and her father, Solomon, made jewelry.

She went to Morris High School in The Bronx. After high school, she studied at Hunter College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then went on to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and received a Master of Science degree.

Career Highlights

After finishing her studies at Columbia in 1945, Judith Crist started working at The New York Herald Tribune. For 22 years, she worked there as a reporter, a film critic, and an arts editor. She even won an award called the George Polk Award for her excellent reporting on education.

When the Tribune newspaper stopped publishing, she became the very first film critic for New York magazine. David Edelstein, another film critic for New York magazine, said that Judith Crist helped make the magazine a place for popular and serious film reviews. He described her writing as "tart, sensible, and irresistibly readable."

Judith Crist also worked as the main film critic for TV Guide from 1966 to 1988. She was also a critic for the Ladies Home Journal. Like Dwight Macdonald, she shared her film reviews on television, working for the Today show from 1964 to 1973. From 1971 to 2006, she hosted special "Judith Crist Film Weekends" in Tarrytown, New York, where people could discuss movies.

Crist's Alumni Award from the Journalism School Alumni Association of Columbia University

For more than 50 years (from 1958 to 2012), she was a professor at Columbia's School of Journalism. She taught a class there called "Personal and Professional Style." Some of her students became famous film critics themselves, like Kenneth Turan and David Denby. In 1963, she received an Alumni Award from the Journalism School. In 2008, the school gave her its Founder's Award because she had taught there for 50 years. She continued teaching right up until she passed away.

Judith Crist wrote a tribute to the famous musical creators Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1965. This tribute was included in a booklet that came with the original record album of The Sound of Music. In 1968, she published a book of her movie reviews called The Private Eye, the Cowboy, and the Very ... Girl: Movies from Cleo to Clyde.

She often said that Charlie Chaplin's silent film The Gold Rush was her "first and to-this-day-most-vivid film experience." This means it was the first movie that truly amazed her and stayed in her memory.

Personal Life

Judith Crist was married to William B. Crist from 1947 until he passed away in 1993. They had one son, Steven Crist. Steven became a well-known expert in horse racing and was the publisher of the Daily Racing Form.

Judith Crist died at her home in Manhattan, New York City, on August 7, 2012. She was 90 years old.

See also

• List of Columbia University people
• List of Hunter College people
• List of people from New York City