Judith Crist was an American film critic and academic. She appeared regularly on the Today show from 1964 to 1973 and was among the first full-time female critics for a major American newspaper, in her case, the New York Herald Tribune. She was the founding film critic at New York magazine and became known to most Americans as a critic at the weekly magazine TV Guide and at the morning TV showToday. She appeared in one film, Woody Allen's dramatic-comedy filmStardust Memories, and was the author of various books, including The Private Eye, The Cowboy and the Very Naked Girl; Judith Crist's TV Guide to the Movies; and Take 22: Moviemakers on Moviemaking.
After graduating from Columbia in 1945, she was employed by The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter, film critic and arts editor for 22 years, and also worked as TV Guide's resident film critic. After the Tribune ceased publication, she was named the first film critic at New York magazine. She was an adjunct professor at Columbia's School of Journalism starting in 1958 and taught for more than 50 years. In 1948, Crist took part in Dr. Fredric Wertham's attack on comic books and published an article in Collier's magazine quoting Wertham and calling for action against violent, sadistic, and provocative comic books which Crist perceived to be affecting the morality of American youth. Like Dwight Macdonald, Crist reviewed films for the Today show in the 1960s. She conducted the Judith Crist Film Weekends at Tarrytown House, in Tarrytown, New York, from 1971 to 2006. She was a longtime member of the Executive Committee of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Association and served three terms as President of the Alumni Association during the 1960s. In 1963, she was awarded an Alumni Award by the Journalism School Alumni Association. On April 5, 2008, the school presented her with its Founder's Award on her completion of 50 years as a faculty member. She taught until just before her death. She wrote the article "Tribute to a Partnership", a tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein, in 1965, for a booklet that accompanied RCA Victor's original LP release of the soundtrack album of The Sound of Music. However, the article has not been reprinted for any of the CD releases of the soundtrack. She cited Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush as her "first and to-this-day-most-vivid film experience."
Personal life
Judith married William B. Crist in 1947, changing her last name. Her husband died in 1993. Judith Crist died at age 90 in her Manhattan home. She was the mother of Steven Crist, a thoroughbred handicapper and publisher of the Daily Racing Form.
