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Robert Crichton (born January 29, 1925; died March 23, 1993) was an American novelist. Crichton served in the infantry during World War II, earning the Bronze Star and Purple Heart before earning a degree from Harvard University in 1951 and becoming a writer. His father, Kyle Crichton, was an editor at Collier's magazine and author of novels and biographies, including an authorized biography of the Marx Brothers. Published in 1959, Crichton's first book, The Great Impostor, was the true if picaresque life story of Fred Waldo Demara, an impostor who successfully assumed the guises and lives of a Trappist monk, a Texas prison warden and surgeon in the Canadian Royal Navy, among many others. The book was a bestseller and adapted into a successful 1961 film with Tony Curtis in the starring role. Crichton's second book, The Rascal and the Road, was a memoir that recounted Crichton's escapades with his collaborator, Fred Waldo Demara. Published in 1966, Crichton's first novel, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 50 weeks and became an international bestseller. Set in an Italian hilltown during World War II, the novel was adapted into a Golden Globe winning film in 1969, directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani. His second and last novel, The Camerons, published by Knopf in 1972, was the fictionalized story of a Scottish coal mining family during the 19th century. Crichton was married to Judy Crichton, the first female documentary producer at CBS Reports, CBS's documentary unit, and the founding executive producer of the PBS historical documentary series, "The American Experience."
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