American best-selling author of popular fiction books, several of which have been made into TV movies, “Scruples,” “Princess Daisy” and “Mistral’s Daughter.” Five of her books have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide in 20 languages. In 1979, “Princess Daisy” cut a milestone in book publishing when it was sold to paperback for a record-breaking $3.2 million. Her books are narrowed into a simple style: feminist heroine with intense career ambitions, a shopping disorder, an unquenchable libido and a convoluted story line. While many avid readers and fans looked forward to Krantz’s books, the serious book reviewers and critics in the industry dismissed her works.
Judith Tarcher’s mother emigrated from Lithuania at the age of four. She arrived in New York and spent her teen years working at a chocolate factory to support the family, continuing to work while going to college. Her mom gave birth to Judith during the Christmas break of her senior year. Upon graduation, mom became a civil-rights lawyer. Judith’s father, Jack Tarcher, owned a successful New York advertising agency.
The young girl grew up in a large Central Park West apartment, the oldest daughter raising her younger sister Mimi and brother Jeremy while her parents put their careers ahead of the family. The Tarchers hired four servants and a laundress to help Judith around the house. At night, her parents attended meetings to support their liberal political activism. Judith excelled in school and skipped two grades at the exclusive Birch Wathen School in Manhattan. While a teacher’s pet in class, she attracted little attention from other students. Never invited to birthday parties or to sleep-overs with girlfriends, Krantz became used to a quiet existence at school and at home. At 17, Krantz enrolled at Wellesley College and blossomed into a social party girl. She prided herself on the achievement of netting 13 dates with 13 different boys on 13 consecutive nights.
Upon graduation, she stayed with a Parisian family in the summer. They treated the girl as an “outsider” to their after-dinner conversations because she was a virgin. In the 1950s, Krantz worked as an accessories editor at Good Housekeeping magazine. She married Steven Krantz in 1954 and moved with him to Los Angeles. With no financial need to work, Krantz was a Beverly Hills matron writing freelance articles for Cosmopolitan, McCall’s and Ladies Home Journal. When Krantz reached the age of 48, she began to experience a mid-life crisis. On a dare from her husband, Krantz began her first novel, “Scruples.”
In 1978, the first sizzling novel was sold to Crown Publishers for $50,000. During the four months the book was on the New York Times bestseller list, Krantz went into psychoanalysis for her mid-life crisis. She followed her success with “Princess Daisy,” 1980, “Mistral’s Daughter,” 1983 and “I’ll Take Manhattan” in 1986. Her TV producer husband brought her books to the small screen. The landmark deal in the publishing industry for “Princess Daisy” astonished publishing firms. By the time she was into her third novel, Krantz realized she could never return to her journalism days. A natural perfectionist and self-editor, she submitted her manuscripts to her publisher in excellent grammar form and almost ready for print. Before she finished one book, Krantz had already begun the outline of her next novel. She preferred not to be interrupted as she worked seven days a week at her word processor.
Steve Krantz was the head of programming at NBC-TV when he was introduced to Judith by her friend Barbara Walters. The couple married in 1954 and produced two sons, Nick in 1957 and Tony in 1960. They lived in a two-story Bel-Air mansion which sat directly behind the 17th hole at the Bel-Air Country Club in California. They escaped to their beach house on Balboa Island on the weekends. By 1994, they had been married for 40 years. Two of their favorite leisure activities together were ballroom dancing and going to the Forum to watch the Los Angeles Lakers play basketball.
As a late-bloomer to the publishing world in fiction, Krantz believed if she had started writing fiction at 21 she would have quit by middle age. An energetic 5′ 2 and 102 pound workaholic, Krantz became annoyed when others questioned how such a petite woman could write such strong, lusty, sex scenes in her novels.
Krantz died on 22 June 2019, aged 91, at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Link to Wikipedia biography