"Riddle Me, Riddle Me, Ree"

Heads up, fellow writers!

Who is the author that didn't venture into writing fiction until she was 50 years old?
She described herself in the Wellesley graduating class of 19 umpty-ump, as the "Youngest, Smartest and Shortest" in the class.

Her English professor liked her work, but she couldn't spell (! - pretty much a requisite in this field) so she gave Krantz a B telling her, "I hope this makes you think about your writing!"  She said in a later interview, "It did alright - I didn't write again for 31 years!"

Determined to show her husband, a film and TV producer who insisted that she was "a natural-born storyteller"- that she couldn't write fiction, dammit, she wrote her first book "Scruples" which became a best seller.  Today she's sold 80 million copies of her books in 50 languages.    

She was besties with a great number of famous people in show biz.  In fact Barbara Walters, a fellow high school friend introduced her to her future husband at a 4th of July barbecue.  A year later, they married (1954) and by all accounts were insanely in love for 43 years, prior to his death from pneumonia, age 83.  She was then a widow for next 12 years, prior to her own demise at her Bel Air, CA, home age 91, on Sunday, June 23, 2019

Wish Godspeed to Judith Krantz