Name: Joan Crawford
Birth Name: Lucille Fay LeSueur
Birthdate: March 23, 1905
Date of Death: May 10, 1977
Birthplace: San Antonio, Texas
1-MINUTE RESUME FOR JOAN CRAWFORD
After dancing in chorus lines as a teen, Joan moved to Los Angeles to
pursue a film career. Bit parts as showgirls and supporting females
followed, and she eventually became a star in the silent film industry.
When Hollywood went "talkie," Joan prospered even more, her strong
voice and presence anchoring such MGM classics as
Grand Hotel (1932),
Sadie McKee (1934),
No More Ladies (1935) and
Love on the Run (1936). Crawford soon left MGM for Warner Brothers, which gave her her most memorable role as an enterprising housewife in
Mildred Pierce (1945). The part landed Joan her first and only Oscar for Best Actress. She was nominated for the Oscar twice more (for
Possessed and
Sudden Fear),
but was beat out both times, losses that troubled her to the core. As
her drinking increased her career slowed down save for 1962's
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
(1962), in which she starred with arch-rival, Bette Davis, who she very
publicly detested. Joan adopted four children, including daughter
Christina, who wrote the best-selling memoir,
Mommie Dearest,
which didn't depict Joan as mother of the year, to say the least.
Christina and her brother Christopher were cut out of Joan's will
entirely "for reasons best known to them." Joan died of cancer in 1977
at the age of 72.
5 Things:
1. She went by various nicknames including Billie Cassin, Cranberry and Billie.
2. Joan initially named her first adopted daughter, Christina, "Joan Crawford Jr."
3. Each time Crawford married, she changed the name of her Brentwood estate and installed all new toilet seats.
4. She was so dedicated to her fans that she replied to every piece of
fan mail herself, typing them on blue paper and autographing them.
5. Joan, an obsessive clean freak, only wore white to bed, wouldn't
smoke a cigarette from an open pack and whenever she stayed in a hotel,
no matter how posh, she always scrubbed the bathroom herself before
using it.
Quote:
"I love playing bitches. There's a lot of bitch in every woman — a lot in every man."
Family:
Husband: James Welton, married 1923-1924 (divorced)
Husband: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., married June 3, 1929; divorced May 12, 1933
Husband: Franchot Tone, married Oct. 11, 1935; divorced April 11, 1939
Husband: Phillip Terry, married July 21, 1942; divorced April 25, 1946
Husband: Alfred Steele, married Jan. 14, 1956; marriage ended April 6, 1959 (his death)
Daughter: Christina Crawford (adopted), born June 11, 1939
Son: Christopher Crawford (adopted), born Oct. 15, 1943
Daughter: Cathy Crawford (adopted), born Jan. 13, 1947
Daughter: Cindy Crawford (adopted), born Jan. 13, 1947
Awards:
1953: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Sudden Fear
1948: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Possessed
1946: Academy Award: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Mildred Pierce
FILMS
Trog - (1970) - Actor
Night Gallery - (1969) - Actor
Berserk! - (1967) - Actor
I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are! - (1965) - Actor
Strait Jacket - (1964) - Actor
Fatal Confinement - (1964) - Actor
The Caretakers - (1963) - Actor
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - (1962) - Actor
The Best of Everything - (1959) - Actor
The Story of Esther Costello - (1957) - Actor
Autumn Leaves - (1956) - Actor
Queen Bee - (1955) - Actor
Johnny Guitar - (1954) - Actor
Torch Song - (1953) - Actor
Sudden Fear - (1952) - Actor
Harriet Craig - (1950) - Actor
Damned Don't Cry - (1950) - Actor
Flamingo Road - (1949) - Actor
Possessed - (1947) - Actor
Humoresque - (1946) - Actor
Mildred Pierce - (1945)
- Actor
Hollywood Canteen - (1944) - Actor
Above Suspicion - (1943) - Actor
They All Kissed the Bride - (1942) - Actor
Reunion in France - (1942) - Actor
A Woman's Face - (1941) - Actor
When Ladies Meet - (1941) - Actor
Strange Cargo - (1940) - Actor
Susan and God - (1940) - Actor
The Women - (1939) - Actor
The Shining Hour - (1938) - Actor
The Bride Wore Red - (1937) - Actor
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney - (1937) - Actor
Mannequin - (1937) - Actor
The Gorgeous Hussy - (1936) - Actor
Love on the Run - (1936) - Actor
I Live My Life - (1935) - Actor
The Grand Hotel/Mutiny on the Bounty - (1935) - Actor
Sadie McKee - (1934) - Actor
Chained - (1934) - Actor
Forsaking All Others - (1934) - Actor
Dancing Lady - (1933) - Actor
Today We Live - (1933) - Actor
Grand Hotel - (1932) - Actor
Rain - (1932) - Actor
Dance, Fools, Dance - (1931) - Actor
Possessed - (1931) - Actor
Laughing Sinners - (1931) - Actor
Our Modern Maidens - (1929) - Actor
Our Dancing Daughters - (1928) - Actor
