Joan Crawford
- Acting
- March 23, 1906 · San Antonio, Texas, USA
- May 10, 1977
Biography
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 1906 – May 10, 1977) was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison". After an absence of nearly two years from the screen, Crawford staged a comeback by starring in Mildred Pierce (1945), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1955, she became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company, through her marriage to company president Alfred Steele. After his death in 1959, Crawford was elected to fill his vacancy on the board of directors but was forcibly retired in 1973. She continued acting in film and television regularly through the 1960s, when her performances became fewer; after the release of the horror film Trog in 1970, Crawford retired from the screen. Following a public appearance in 1974, after which unflattering photographs were published, Crawford withdrew from public life. She became more and more reclusive until her death in 1977.
Known for
Filmography
- Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story · Self
- The Green Fog
- Bette and Joan · Self
- Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other · Self
- Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar' · Self
- Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western? · Self
- The Shirley Eder Tapes · Self
- Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe · Self
- Possessed · (archive footage)
- Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
- Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France
- 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year · Self
- Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood · Various Roles (archive footage)
- Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story · Self
- Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema · Self
- Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy · Self
- Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition · Self
- Stardust: The Bette Davis Story · Self
- 42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage · Self
- The Damned Don't Cry: The Crawford Formula - Real and Reel · Self
- Checking Out: Grand Hotel · Self / Flaemmchen (archive footage)
- Complicated Women · Self
- Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star · Self
- Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket' · Self
- Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces · Self
- Joan Crawford: Always the Star · Self
- The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies · Self
- Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell · Self
- The Casting Couch
- Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill · Self
- That's Entertainment! III · (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Gay! Gay! Hollywood
- Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre · Self
- Going Hollywood: The '30s · (archive footage)
- Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage · Self
- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid · (in "Humoresque") (archive footage)
- Showbiz Ballyhoo · Self
- Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! · Self
- Bob Hope's World of Comedy · (archive footage)
- That's Entertainment, Part II · (archive footage)
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? · Self
- That's Entertainment! · (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death · Joan Fairchild
- The Sixth Sense · Joan Fairchild
- Hollywood: The Dream Factory · Self
- Great Performances · Self
- Journey to Murder · Host
- Trog · Dr. Brockton
- The Tim Conway Show · Self
- Night Gallery · Miss Menlo
- Garbo, by Joan Crawford · Self
- Journey to the Unknown · Self
- The Big Rock Candy Mountain · Self
- The Name of the Game · Committee Member (uncredited)
- This was the MARY · Self/Narrator
- Berserk! · Monica Rivers
- The Karate Killers · Amanda True
- The Oscar · Joan Crawford
- I Saw What You Did · Amy Nelson
- Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte · Miriam Deering in Car (uncredited)
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. · Amanda True
- The Big Parade of Comedy · Bobby (archive footage)
- Della · Della Chappell, Producer
- Strait-Jacket · Lucy Harbin
- How to Plan a Movie Murder · Self
- The Caretakers · Lucretia Terry
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? · Blanche Hudson
- The Lucy Show · Joan Crawford
- The Merv Griffin Show · Self
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson · Self
- The Virginian · Stephanie White
- Lykke og krone · Self
- Hollywood: The Selznick Years · Self
- One Must Die
- Route 66 · Morgan Harper
- The Best of Everything · Amanda Farrow
- Startime · Self
- Woman on the Run · Susan Conrad, Producer
- Zwischen Glück und Krone · Self
- Strange Witness · Ruth Marshall