Judy Crichton

As one of America's premier female producers of television news, and the first executive producer of the seminal WGBH-Boston series American Experience, Judy Crichton developed, honed, and sustained a reputation for crafting sharp, penetrating historical documentaries with a proclivity for honing in on social outsiders -- from Native Americans to segregation-era African-Americans. A Manhattan native and the daughter of news producer Ben Feiner, Crichton graduated from high school at 15 years old, then dropped out of college after only two months to take a job as a file clerk at the New York Herald Tribune. She subsequently wrote and produced the CBS game show I've Got a Secret from 1952 to 1968, and joined the CBS Reports documentary unit in the 1970s, turning out a series of specials on such hot-button subjects as impure drinking water and the nuclear arms race. The former newswoman helped launch American Experience in 1988 and remained with the program until 1996; during her tenure with that program, she netted a host of Emmys, Peabody Awards, Writers Guild Awards, and various other honors including The National Humanities Medal, bestowed on her by President Bill Clinton. Crichton died from complications of leukemia, on October 14, 2007. She was 77.

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide