Judith Krantz, US romance writer who mixed sex with shopping, dies at 91
- Despite writing in a genre labelled ‘trash fiction’ by some, Krantz sold 80 million books, which were translated into more than 50 languages
Judith Krantz, author of blockbuster romance novels including Scruples and Princess Daisy that sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, died on Saturday in Los Angeles from natural causes. She was 91.
Once called “the hardest working woman in trash fiction”, Krantz’s books have been translated into more than 50 languages. Seven have been adapted into television series, with her late husband, Steve Krantz, serving as executive producer for most of them.
Her fantasy novels focused on the lifestyles of the rich and the dangerously beautiful. And there was plenty of sex, of course. In her 2000 memoir Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl, she explained that every one of her novels included at least one character who loses her virginity because she found her own experience so momentous.
Krantz was born on January 9, 1928, in New York to an advertising executive and a lawyer. She went to Birch Wathen School then Wellesley College, where she graduated in 1948.
Soon after graduation, she moved to Paris and found work as a fashion publicist. She returned to New York the following year and began a career as a magazine journalist, first at Good Housekeeping, where she was eventually promoted to fashion editor.