Chris Madden, "a lifestyle and decorating author and personality who lent her name to furniture and housewares, including a collection for J.C. Penney, and was an early program host on HGTV," died March 2, the New York Times reported. She was 73. A "telegenic former model and publishing executive who wrote a number of books on decorating," Madden was sometimes compared with Martha Stewart, "but a kinder, gentler version, as Joyce Wadler of the New York Times put it in 2007."
"She helps them impress," Madden said of Stewart. "I help them decompress."
Madden had already written a collection of books on interiors--including Kitchens (1993) and Bathrooms (1996)--when she published what proved to be her most successful book, A Room of Her Own (1997). "The book touched a nerve and sold more than 100,000 copies," the Times wrote, noting that she became a sought-after speaker and guest on television.
Madden had also worked in the publicity departments at several publishing houses. At 24, she was hired as director of publicity at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and worked in the field until being fired by Simon & Schuster in the late 1970s for, she said, not being aggressive enough. She then started her own publicity company, Chris Madden & Associates, with clients including book publishers, an anti-censorship nonprofit and Ford Models.
At the same time, she began to produce coffee-table books, starting with a cookbook, The Compleat Lemon, with Susan Lee (1979) and Manhattan, with Jean-Claude Suares (1981). After her book on decorators, Interior Visions: Great American Designers and the Showcase House, was published in 1988, she focused on interior design.