Robert Crutchfield, Veteran Hollywood PR Exec, Dies at 85
Charna Flam 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.