Joan Crawford

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.

Most Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

as Self

Great Performances

as Self

What's My Line?

as Self

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

as Stella Faring

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

as Sarah / Melanie Davidson Hobbs

The Merv Griffin Show

as Self

The Virginian

as Stephanie White

The Oscars

as Self

The Lucy Show

as Joan Crawford

The Secret Storm

as Joan Borman Kane

Route 66

as Morgan Harper

The Colgate Comedy Hour

as Self

The Name of the Game

as Committee Member (uncredited)

The Shining Hour

as Olivia Riley Linden

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

as Amanda True

The Sixth Sense

as Joan Fairchild

Rose-Marie

as Rose-Marie

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

as (in "Humoresque") (archive footage)

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

as Blanche Hudson

Possessed

as Marian Martin aka 'Mrs. Moreland'