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EspañolJOAN CRAWFORD
'Joan Crawford' (March 23 1905 or 1908 – May 10 1977), For most of her life, Crawford maintained that she was born in 1908. Some sources maintain that she was born in 1905. Birth records for San Antonio are not available for years earlier than 1910. There are two sources used for her birth date: 1) The 1905 date is based on the 1910 US Census where she was listed as 5 years old. 2) The Social Security Death Index uses the birth date of March 23 1908. The information was supplied when she applied for Social Security in California, and had to show some documentation, but that document is unknown. Turner Classic Movies uses March 23, 1904 as her birth date, but the source for the information is unknown. Christina Crawford, her daughter stated on Larry King Live that she did not even know how old Crawford was at the time of her death. was an Academy Award-winning American actress. The American Film Institute named Crawford among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time, ranking her at number 10.
Starting as a dancer, she was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 1925 and played in small parts. By the end of the '20s, as her popularity grew, she became famous as a youthful flapper. At the beginning of the 1930s, her fame rivaled that of fellow MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. She was often cast in movies in which she played hardworking young women who eventually found romance and success. These "rags to riches" stories were well-received by Depression-era audiences. Women, particularly, seemed to identify with her characters' struggles. By the end of the decade she remained one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars, and one of the highest paid women in the U.S.
Moving to Warner Bros. in 1943, Crawford won an Academy Award for her performance in ''Mildred Pierce'', and achieved some of the best reviews of her career in the following years. In 1955, she became involved with PepsiCo, the company run by her last husband, Alfred Steele. She was elected to fill his vacancy on the board of directors after his death in 1959, but was forcibly retired in 1973. She continued acting regularly into the 1960s, when her performances became fewer, and retired from the screen in 1970 after the release of the horror film ''Trog''.
Early life
She was born 'Lucille Fay LeSueur' in San Antonio, Texas, the third child of Tennessee-born Thomas E. LeSueur (1868–1938) and Anna Bell Johnson (1884–1958). Her older siblings were Daisy LeSueur, who died very young, and Hal LeSueur. Although Crawford was of mostly English descent, her surname originates from her great-great-great-great grandparents, David LeSueur and Elizabeth Chastain, French Huguenots who immigrated from London in the early 1700s to Virginia, where they lived for several generations. [1]
Crawford's father was said to have abandoned the family in Texas; Crawford later said she had been only a few months old when her father left. Her mother later married Henry J. Cassin. The family lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, where Cassin ran a movie theater. The 1910 Comanche County, Oklahoma, Federal Census, enumerated on April 20, shows Henry and Anna living at 910 "D" Street in Lawton. Lucille was then five years old, thus showing that 1905 was her likely year of birth, although she would shave some years off later on and claim she was born in 1908.
Growing up, she preferred the nickname "Billie", and she loved watching vaudeville acts perform on the stage of her stepfather's theater. Her ambition was to be a dancer. Unfortunately, she cut her foot deeply on a broken milk bottle when she leapt from the front porch of her home in an attempt to escape piano lessons and run and play with friends. She was unable to attend elementary school for a year and a half and eventually had three operations on her foot. She eventually overcame the injury and returned not only to walking normally, but to dancing as well.
Around 1916, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Henry Cassin was first listed in the City Directory in 1917, living at 403 East Ninth Street. While still in elementary school, she was placed in St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic school in Kansas City. Later, after her mother and stepfather broke up, she stayed on at St. Agnes as a work student. She then went to Rockingham Academy as a work student. In 1922, she registered at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and gave her year of birth as 1906. She attended Stephens for less than a year, however, as she recognized that she was not academically prepared for college.
Career
Early career
She began as a dancer in a chorus line under the name Lucille LeSueur, eventually making her way to New York. In 1924, she signed a contract with MGM, and arrived in Culver City, California, in January, 1925.
Crawford started out in Silent films. As 'Lucille LeSueur', her first film was ''Pretty Ladies'' in 1925, which starred ZaSu Pitts. ''Pretty Ladies'' was the first and only time Crawford used her birth name professionally. According to the book ''Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood'', features a quote from Crawford herself, claiming that it was Sam De Grasse who said that her name LeSueur sounded too much like 'sewer'. A contest in the fan magazine ''Movie Weekly'' became the source of her well-known stage name. The female contestant who entered the name Joan Crawford was awarded $500. Though Crawford reportedly detested the name at first, saying it sounded like "crawfish", and called herself JoAnne for some time, she eventually became used to it. (Her friend, actor William Haines, quipped "You're lucky- they could have called you Cranberry and served you up with a Turkey!")
Crawford first made an impression on audiences in Edmund Goulding's ''Sally, Irene and Mary'' (1925), in which she played Irene, a struggling chorus girl who meets a tragic end. The following year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, along with Mary Astor, Mary Brian, Dolores Costello, Dolores Del Rio, Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray. For the next two years, she consolidated on these gains, appearing in increasingly important movies. In 1926, she made Paris where she was able to show her sex appeal. It was also during this time that she was the romantic interest for some of MGM's leading male stars, among them Ramon Novarro, William Haines, John Gilbert, and Tim McCoy.
Joan Crawford in 1927
Her most unique movie from this period was ''The Unknown'' (1927), starring Lon Chaney, Sr. as Alonzo, a carnival knife thrower with no arms. She played his skimpily clad young carnival assistant, Nanon Zanzi, who he hopes to marry. Crawford stated that she learned more about acting from watching Chaney work in this movie than from anything else in her long career.
In 1928, she starred opposite Ramon Novarro, as Priscilla Crowninshield in ''Across to Singapore'' but it was her role as Diana Medford in ''Our Dancing Daughters'' (1928) catapulted her to stardom and established her as a symbol of modern 1920s-style femininity that rivalled the image of Clara Bow, who was then Hollywood's foremost flapper. A stream of hits followed ''Our Dancing Daughters'', including two more flapper-themed movies, in which Crawford embodied for her legion of fans, many of whom were women, an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl.
She tirelessly studied diction and elocution to rid herself of her Southwestern accent. Her first talkie was ''Untamed'' (1929) opposite Robert Montgomery, which was a box office success. The movie proved to be an important milestone for the durable star, as she made an effective transition to sound movies. One critic wrote, "Miss Crawford sings appealingly and dances thrillingly as usual; her voice is alluring and her dramatic efforts in the difficult role she portrays are at all times convincing."
Queen of MGM
During the early 1930s, Crawford modified her image to better fit the hard-scrabble conditions of Depression-era America. In this new role, she played a glamorized version of the working girl who relied on her intelligence, looks, and sheer determination to get ahead in life. This persona was fully realized in Possessed (1931), where she was teamed with Clark Gable. During production, the two stars began an affair that resulted in an ultimatum issued by studio chief, Louis B. Mayer. Both chose their careers over the relationship, although their affair would resume spasmodically and secretly for many years. Upon release, ''Possessed'' was an enormous hit.
An indication of Crawford's superstar-status was the studio's decision to cast her in its most prestigious movie of 1932, the all-star extravaganza ''Grand Hotel''. .
She achieved continued success with ''Letty Lynton'' (1932), now considered the "lost" Crawford film due to a plagiarism case that forced MGM to withdraw it soon after release. As a result, it has never since been shown theatrically, on television or made available on VHS or DVD. It is mostly remembered today because of the ''Letty Lynton'' dress, designed by Adrian: a white cotton organdy gown with large mutton sleeves, puffed at the shoulder. It was with this gown that Crawford's broad shoulders began to be accentuated by costume; this would become a trademark for the actress along with, later in her career, emphasised eyebrows and ankle strap shoes. When the Letty Lynton dress was copied by Macy's in 1932, it sold over 500,000 copies nationwide.
Following the success of ''Possessed'', Clark Gable was starred in a series of steamy pairings opposite Crawford, in which they established themselves a formidable romantic duo of the 1930s. Their rollicking smash hit ''Dancing Lady'' (1933), in which Crawford received top billing over Gable, was the only movie to feature Robert Benchley, Nelson Eddy, Fred Astaire and the Three Stooges all together in one movie. Her next two movies with Gable, ''Chained'' (1934) and ''Forsaking All Others'' (also 1934), were both big hits, being among the top money makers of the mid-1930s, and marked Crawford's peak at MGM as a popular star at the box office.
from the trailer for ''The Women'' (1939)
By the end of the decade, Crawford had adopted a more sophisticated image in which her characters seemed to be defined as much by their glamorous clothing, beautiful accessories, and carefully styled hair and make-up as by any meaningful character trait. Fans soon tired of this remote "clothes horse" persona and eventually her movies began to lose money. In 1938, she was one of the unfortunate stars to be labeled "box-office poison", along with Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and Fred Astaire.
Crawford somewhat rectified her position at MGM through a fruitful collaboration with director George Cukor. She first played bitchy home-wrecker Crystal Allen in Cukor's comedy ''The Women'' (1939), then capitalized on this success in two more movies under his direction, ''Susan and God'' (1940) and ''A Woman's Face'' (1941).
Eager to promote their new generation of female stars, among them Greer Garson, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and the resurgent Katharine Hepburn, the management at MGM began to view Crawford as a bad investment. After 18 years at the studio, Crawford's contract was terminated by mutual consent on June 29, 1943. In lieu of one more movie owed under her contract, she paid the studio $100,000. That same day, she drove herself to the studio and personally cleaned out her dressing room.
Move to Warners
Upon leaving MGM, Crawford signed with Warner Bros. for $500,000 for three movies and was placed on the payroll on July 1, 1943. She appeared as herself in the star-studded production ''Hollywood Canteen'' (1944) and was cast in the title role in ''Mildred Pierce'' (1945), in which she played opposite Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, and Butterfly McQueen. Director Michael Curtiz and producer Jerry Wald developed the property specifically for Crawford from the popular James M. Cain novel, which was adapted for the screen by Ranald MacDougall
Joan Crawford in 1948
The final product was a commercial and artistic triumph. It epitomized the lush visual style and the hard-boiled film noir sensibility that defined Warner Bros. movies of the late 1940s. Crawford earned the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance.
On the strength of this movie, she established herself as the chief leading lady at Warner Bros., effectively stealing the limelight from the former queen of the studio, Bette Davis, and apparently sowing the seeds for the future conflict and discord Crawford endured with Davis on two films.
For the next few years, Crawford reigned as a top star and respected actress, appearing in such roles as Helen Wright in ''Humoresque'' (1946), as Louise Howell Graham in ''Possessed'' (1947) opposite Van Heflin and Raymond Massey, for which she was nominated for a second Oscar as Best Actress, and the title role in ''Daisy Kenyon'' (also 1947).
Crawford's other movie roles of the era include Lane Bellamy in ''Flamingo Road'' (1949), a dual role in the film noir '' The Damned Don't Cry '' (1950), her performance in the title role in ''Harriet Craig'' (1950) at Columbia Pictures. After filming ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' (1952), Crawford asked to be released from her Warner Brothers contract. As she had done so before, Crawford triumphed as Myra Hudson in ''Sudden Fear'' (1952) at RKO, the movie that introduced her co-star, Jack Palance, to the screen and earned her a third and final Oscar nomination as Best Actress.
Besides acting in motion pictures, Crawford also worked in radio and television. She appeared a number of times in episodes of anthology TV shows in the 1950s and, in 1959, made a pilot for her own series, ''The Joan Crawford Show'', but it was not picked up by a network.
Work at Pepsi
Besides her work as an actress, from 1955 to 1973, Crawford traveled extensively on behalf of husband Al Steele's company, Pepsi Cola Company. Two days after Steele's death in 1959, she was elected to fill his vacancy on the board of directors.
Crawford was the recipient of the Sixth Annual "Pally Award," which was in the shape of a bronze Pepsi bottle. It was awarded to the employee making the most significant contribution to company sales.
In 1973, she retired from the company at the behest of company executive Don Kendall, whom Crawford had referred to for years as "Fang."
Later career
Early poster ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?''
After her triumph in RKO's ''Sudden Fear'' (1952), Crawford continued to star in films, from the cult Western ''Johnny Guitar'' (1954) to the drama ''Autumn Leaves'' (1956), opposite a young Cliff Robertson. By the early 1960s, however, Crawford's status in motion pictures had diminished significantly.
Her career rebounded when accepted the role of "Blanche Hudson" in the highly successful thriller, ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962), directed by Robert Aldrich. Crawford played the part of a physically disabled woman, a former A-list movie star in conflict with her psychotic sister. Despite the actresses' earlier tensions, Crawford suggested Bette Davis for the role of Jane. The movie was completed and became a blockbuster.
Crawford went on to play Lucretia Terry in the United Artists movie ''The Caretakers'' (1963). Davis was nominated for an Academy Award that year for her performance as "Baby Jane" and Crawford aggressively, but secretly, campaigned against her. Unbeknown to Davis, Crawford had contacted all of the Oscar nominees beforehand to tell them that she would be happy to accept the Oscar on their behalf if they were unable to attend the ceremony. Both Davis and Crawford were backstage when the absent Anne Bancroft was announced as the winner. Crawford reportedly elbowed her way past Davis and said, "Excuse me, I have an Oscar to accept." That year Crawford went on to star as Lucy Harbin in William Castle's horror/mystery ''Strait-Jacket'' (1964).
Aldrich cast her and Davis to work together again in
''Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte'' (1964), but Crawford soon entered a hospital with an illness that was reportedly feigned in order to get out of the commitment reportedly due to a campaign of harassment by Davis . After a prolonged absence, Aldrich was forced to replace Crawford with Olivia de Havilland.
Upon her release from the hospital after her ''Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte'' debacle, Crawford played the role as Amy Nelson in ''I Saw What You Did'' (1965), another William Castle vehicle. She next starred as Monica Rivers in Herman Cohen's horror/thriller ''Berserk!'' (1968). After the film's release, Crawford then guest-starred as herself on ''The Lucy Show''. The episode, ''Lucy and the Lost Star'', caused much celebrity fodder as title star Lucille Ball had a very public feud with Crawford during taping. According to Ball, Crawford was often drunk on the set and could not memorize her lines. Ball was said to have requested several times to replace Crawford with Gloria Swanson, who was supposed to have filled the role originally but bowed out at the last minute. When asked during an interview how she had liked working with Ball, Crawford's response was, "And they call ''me'' a bitch!"
In October 1968, her 29-year-old daughter, Christina, who was then acting in New York on the TV soap opera ''The Secret Storm'', fell ill and needed immediate medical attention. Crawford offered to fill in for her and play her daughter's role until she was well enough to return, which the producer readily agreed to. The implausibility of Crawford (then 63) playing a 28-year-old woman was coupled by her apparent state of intoxication on the live telecast. Christina was fired from the role the following year; in her memoir ''Mommie Dearest'', Christina claimed her mother's behaviour contributed to her firing.
Crawford's appearance in a 1969 episode of ''Night Gallery'', titled ''Eyes'', marked one of Steven Spielberg's earliest directing jobs.
She starred on the big screen one final time, playing Dr. Brockton in Herman Cohen's sci-fi/horror ''Trog'' (1970), rounding out a career spanning 45 years and over 80 motion pictures.
Crawford made four more TV appearances, as Stephanie White in an episode of ''The Virginian'' (1970) titled ''The Nightmare'', as a board member in an episode of ''The Name of the Game'' (1971) titled ''Los Angeles'', as Allison Hayes in the made-for-TV movie ''Beyond the Water's Edge'' (1972), and as Joan Fairchild in the television series ''The Sixth Sense'', also in 1972.
Personal life
Marriages and residences
In 1929, at the time she wed her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Crawford purchased a mansion at 426 North Bristol Avenue in Brentwood, midway between Beverly Hills and the Pacific Ocean, which was her primary home for the next 26 years. Over the years she had her home decorated and redecorated by William Haines, her former silent movie co-star and lifelong friend, who was much in demand as an interior designer after receiving Crawford's recommendation.
Crawford had five husbands: James Welton (married 1923-divorced 1924), and actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (married June 3 1929 in New York-divorced 1933); Franchot Tone (married October 11 1935 in New Jersey-divorced 1939); Phillip Terry (married July 21 1942 at Hidden Valley Ranch in Ventura County, California-divorced 1946); and Pepsi-Cola president Alfred N. Steele (married May 10 1955 in Las Vegas, Nevada-his death 1959).
She moved to a lavish penthouse apartment at 2 East 70th St. with her last husband, Alfred Steele. He died there on April 19, 1959. She then sold her Brentwood mansion and stayed in New York, moving to a smaller apartment, number 22-G in the Imperial House. She later moved to a smaller apartment in the same building (Apt.# 22-H) where she died, aged 72. She kept a small apartment in Los Angeles for her frequent trips there.
Adopted children
Crawford adopted five children, though she raised only four.
The first was Christina (born June 11 1939), whom Crawford adopted in 1940 while a single, divorced woman.
The second was a boy she named Christopher (born April 1941), whom she adopted in June of that year. In 1942, his biological mother discovered his whereabouts and reclaimed the child as her own.
The third child was Christopher Terry (born 1943). She and Philip Terry adopted him that same year, and he remained her son, as Christopher Crawford, after she and Terry divorced. According to Christina, Crawford had changed this second birth date to October 15 because she was afraid he would also be taken away. He died of cancer on September 22, 2006 in Greenport, New York.
The fourth and fifth children were twin girls Cynthia "Cindy" Crawford and Cathy Crawford (both born January 13, 1947). Crawford adopted them in June of that year, while she was a single, divorced woman. They are twins born in Dyersburg, Tennessee, to an unwed mother who died seven days after their birth. They said that Crawford was afraid their biological parents might try to get them back and would therefore say they were not twins. Their version is consistent with newspaper reports at the time of their adoption.
Religion
Crawford was raised Catholic. Her stepfather, Henry Cassin, was Roman Catholic, although he and Anna were ultimately divorced. Crawford insisted on marrying her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who was not Catholic, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
By the late 1930s, she attended The Church of Christ, Scientist. She would bring her adopted children to that church regularly but not usually weekly. While she practiced Christian Science, the religion did not preclude her from receiving medical care or her children from receiving it. She always looked at that doctrine an ideal, not a practical reality, according to ''Mommie Dearest''.
Crawford sent Christina to Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy For Girls for her junior and senior years of high school. Christina stated in her book that the Catholic doctrines were a shock to her compared to Christian Science. Christina also stated in ''Mommie Dearest'' that Crawford considered herself a Catholic though she stopped practicing the faith nearly 50 years before her death.
Controversy
Shortly after her death, the eldest of her four children, Christina, published a bestseller exposé titled ''Mommie Dearest'' containing allegations that Crawford was emotionally and physically abusive to her and her brother Christopher. Though many of Crawford's friends, as well as her other two daughters, harshly criticized and disputed the book's claims, other friends did not, and her reputation was somewhat tarnished for awhile. The book was later made into a movie, also titled ''Mommie Dearest'', starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford.
Final years and death
In 1970, Crawford was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by John Wayne on the Golden Globes, which was telecast from the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. She also spoke at her alma mater, Stephens College, from which she never graduated.
Her book, ''My Way of Life'', was published in 1971 by Simon and Schuster. In September 1973, she moved from apartment 22-G to the smaller apartment 22-H in the Imperial House. Her last public appearance was September 23 1974, at a party honoring her old friend Rosalind Russell at New York's Rainbow Room. Russell was battling breast cancer at the time and died two years later in 1976. On May 8 1977, Crawford gave away her beloved Shih Tzu "Princess Lotus Blossom".
Joan Crawford died two days later at her New York apartment from a heart attack, while also ill with pancreatic cancer. Joan Crawford Dies at Home; Joan Crawford, Screen Star, Dies in Manhattan Home According to her daughter Christina, her alleged last words were "Dammit ... Don't you dare ask God to help me", directed at her housekeeper, who had begun to pray out loud.[2] But other sources indicate that she was found dead on the bedroom floor by her housemaid. A funeral was held at Campbell Funeral Home, New York, on May 10 1977. All four of her adopted children attended, as did her niece, Joan Crawford LeSueur (aka Joan Lowe), the daughter of her late brother, Hal LeSueur, who had died in 1963. In her will, which was signed October 28 1976, she bequeathed to her two youngest children, Cindy and Cathy, $77,500 each from her $2,000,000 estate. However, she explicitly disinherited the two eldest, Christina and Christopher. In the last paragraph of the will, she wrote, "It is my intention to make no provision herein for my son Christopher or my daughter Christina for reasons which are well known to them."
A memorial service was held for Crawford at All Souls' Unitarian Church on Lexington Avenue in New York on May 16, 1977, and was attended by, among others, her old Hollywood friend Myrna Loy. Christina Crawford arrived late. Another memorial service, organized by George Cukor, was held on June 24 in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California.
She was cremated and her ashes placed in a crypt with her last husband, Al Steele, in Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.
Crawford's hand and foot prints are immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine Street. In 1999, ''Playboy'' listed Joan Crawford as one of the 100 Sexiest Women of the 20th century, where she placed at 84.
See also
★ Filmography of Joan Crawford
References
1. Le Sueur
2. Crawford biography, IMDB
External links
★
★ Joan Crawford at Turner Classic Movies
★ The Best of Everything
★ The Films of Joan Crawford
★ Legendary Joan Crawford
★ Photographs of Joan Crawford
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