PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE

Judy Crichton, a legend in documentary filmmaking, recounts her turbulent marriage to acclaimed novelist Robert Crichton in this posthumous memoir.

A trailblazer in documentary journalism, Crichton was among the first women to direct and produce documentary films for network television in the 1970s. She would go on to become the founding executive producer of American Experience, the PBS series that redefined the genre in the 1980s. The author began writing this memoir about her marriage to Robert Crichton in the 1990s; in this book, edited and published by Judy’s daughter, Jennifer Crichton, the celebrated documentarian reveals an intimate look at her personal life. Beginning as a whirlwind romance in 1951 between two 20-somethings, the Crichtons’ marriage endured through decades of pained love. “Big Bob,” as the author affectionally referred to her husband, thrived professionally (his 1959 novel The Great Impostor would inspire a 1961 movie by the same name starting Tony Curtis), but his life was plagued by untreated trauma from World War II and alcohol abuse. The memoir’s grappling with the tragedy of watching a lover, an intellectual companion, and the father of one’s children fight a losing battle with mental illness is particularly poignant. In addition to powerful reflections on the paradoxes of marriage, the book provides a fascinating insight into leftist circles in the 1950s and 1960s—Crichton describes her and her husband’s social circle as “a haven for unreconstructed activists: Marxists and socialists, feminists and integrationists.” The contrast between the author’s lifestyle and the mainstream culture of the era—from the banality of Howdy-Doody to anticommunist hysteria—effectively evokes a time of rapid change. The book also sheds light on the legacy of World War II, as jubilant postwar narratives of American victory belie the lived experiences of scarred soldiers like Bob. A tragic (but never morose) work, this is a tour-de-force memoir of a heartrending marriage. The intimate prose is accompanied by ample family photographs throughout.

A powerful true story of two lovers that eschews mythmaking for brutally honest reflection.