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Judith Crist

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Critic

The Resume

    (May 22, 1922-August 7, 2012)
    Born in The Bronx, New York
    Birth name was Judith Cohen
    Film critic for the 'New York Herald Tribune,' 'New York' magazine and 'TV Guide'
    Appeared on The Today Show (1964-73)
    Wrote 'The Private Eye, the Cowboy and the Very Naked Girl,' 'Judith Crist's TV Guide to the Movies' and 'Take 22: Moviemakers on Moviemaking'
    Taught criticism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for over 50 years

Why she might be annoying:

    She said, 'To be a critic, you have to have maybe 3 percent education, 5 percent intelligence, 2 percent style and 90 percent gall and egomania in equal part.'
    She had a reputation as 'the critic most hated by Hollywood.'
    Billy Wilder said asking her to review a film was 'like asking the Boston Strangler for a neck massage.'
    Otto Preminger dubbed her 'Judas Crist.'
    She could be as hard on students as she was on movies, with the curriculum stating her class was 'not for the faint of heart.'
    She wrote about anti-smoking regulations, 'I find myself a member of an oppressed minority.' (1991)

Why she might not be annoying:

    She said she had been a 'movie nut' ever since seeing Charlie Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush' as a child.
    She was the first full-time female movie critic for a major newspaper.
    She had a cameo in Woody Allen's 'Stardust Memories,' which had been inspired by the 'film weekends' she hosted.
    No matter how ruthless her critiques, she would end her classes by telling the students they were doing a good job and she was just an 'old, cranky woman.'
    She wrote, 'One of the joys of criticism is in wanting to share discovered pleasure. You can't kill the trash, but at least you can give the good a push and pass it on.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 92.86% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 57.89% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 82 Votes: 80.49% Annoying