Veteran publicity executive Robert Crutchfield died April 7 in Rancho Mirage, Calif., after a prolonged illness. He was 85.
Crutchfield began his career in Hollywood in 1959 as a contract player for 20th Century Fox after he left his job as KXYZ-ABC Radio’s youngest on-air radio DJ at the Houston station. Quickly thereafter in 1963, he was laid off after the studio neared bankruptcy due to the “Cleopatra” production. Crutchfield then switched over to MGM as an office boy and then publicist for the studio.
By 1974, he moved to MTM Enterprises, serving as the VP of marketing and publicity, where he handled “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “WKRP In Cincinnati,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Lou Grant, “Phyllis,” “Rhoda,” “The White Shadow” and many more.
In 1982, he became senior VP of publicity at Lorimar-Telepictures, where he orchestrated the “Dallas” campaign “Who Shot J.R.?” while also overseeing “The Waltons,” “Knot’s Landing,” “Eight Is Enough” and “Falcon Crest.” Five years later, Crutchfield became Universal Television’s executive VP of publicity, promotion and advertising, helping launch fan-favorite series including “Law & Order,” “Quantum Leap” and “Northern Exposure” and overseeing “Miami Vice,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Magnum, P.I.”
More recently, he served as president and CEO of Crutchfield Entertainment, a broadcast production studio in the Palm Springs area that specialized in commercials, voice-overs, training videos, documentaries and audio books. Simultaneously, Crutchfield produced and starred in his own weekly podcast, “As I See It,” where he invited listeners to learn more about his adventures while working in Hollywood for four decades.
Additionally, Crutchfield served two terms on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Publicity Committee and was a founding member of the Television Publicity Executives Committee. In 1994, he received the distinguished service award from The Arthritis Foundation.
He is survived by his husband and partner of 49 years, Terry Johnson; his nephews, Edgar Burns Crutchfield III and Kevin Crutchfield; his grandnephew, Holden Crutchfield; and his cousin, Margot Crutchfield.
