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| - Joan Crawford (born March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977), born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American film and television actress. She is known in such films as Mildred Pierce, Possessed, Sudden Fear and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
- Joan Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American film and television actress who rose to stardom during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was best known for her commanding box office presence and sordid love life.
- Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; (March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977) was an Academy Award-winning American actress, named the tenth Greatest Female Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Starting as a dancer on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 1925 and initially played small parts. She became a famous flapper by the end of the '20s. Beginning in the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled fellow MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. She 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. By the end of the decade, Crawford remained one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars, and one of
- Joan Crawford (1904 – 1977) is the only American film actress who ever mattered. Her career spanned forty years in which she brought her finely honed acting skills to such landmark movies as Our Dancing Daughters, Our Modern Maidens, Our Hammered Housewives, Mildred Pierce (the only film that ever mattered) and, of course, Trog. Crawford’s lust for life was so strong that Faye Dunaway claimed that the spirit of the actress possessed her during the filming of Mommie Dearest -- graciously providing Dunaway with an excuse for her hammy, over the top acting.
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| - Joan Crawford (born March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977), born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American film and television actress. She is known in such films as Mildred Pierce, Possessed, Sudden Fear and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
- Joan Crawford (1904 – 1977) is the only American film actress who ever mattered. Her career spanned forty years in which she brought her finely honed acting skills to such landmark movies as Our Dancing Daughters, Our Modern Maidens, Our Hammered Housewives, Mildred Pierce (the only film that ever mattered) and, of course, Trog. Crawford’s lust for life was so strong that Faye Dunaway claimed that the spirit of the actress possessed her during the filming of Mommie Dearest -- graciously providing Dunaway with an excuse for her hammy, over the top acting. Crawford was a small town gal, born on the wrong side of the tracks in a two bit town. Her mother named her Joan, after the saint and Crawford, after nasty little Texas town of the same name. As a child of six, young Joan decided that she had larger plans for life and choose the name Lucille LeSueur (for its star quality, because it sounded classy, and because she really enjoyed their canned peas).
- Joan Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American film and television actress who rose to stardom during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was best known for her commanding box office presence and sordid love life. Crawford was born Lucille LeSueur in 1905 in San Antonio, Texas, and worked to overcome her upbringing in a broken home (where her mother constantly remarried and she never met her birth father). At the age of 12, she enrolled in Rockingham Academy in Kansas City, and claimed she was beaten by a headmaster who made her work more than study. As a young adult, LeSueur began performing in dance contests and chorus lines, and was approached by a producer in Detroit who gave her more work in New York City, which eventually led to her getting the chance to screentest for a role with an MGM film. Subsequently, LeSueur was given a contract to work for MGM, and arrived in California in 1925. From that point on, she appeared in a number of silent films over the next three years. At the same time, MGM held a contest to select a new Stage Name for her - the winning entry was Joan Crawford. Newly rechristened, Crawford garnered larger and larger roles until her breakout role as Diana Medford in the 1928 'talkie' Our Dancing Daughters. From that point on, Crawford went on to become a superstar, and was known for her flapperesque personality traits (later transitioning into a sophisticated persona) and commanding screen presence. During her peak, Crawford was also involved in several high-profile marriages and affairs. She first began an affair with Clark Gable on the set of 1931's Possessed (and continued it, even after MGM told her to stop). At the same time, she married the actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (the son of Hollywood royalty) and divorced him four years later amid accusations of verbal and mental abuse. She married another actor, Franchot Tone, in 1935, and divorced him five years later after he physically abused her. Two further marriages followed (to actor Phillip Terry and soft-drink company executive Alfred Steele), and it was during this time that she chose to adopt several children after being informed that she wouldn't be able to bear children. From 1925 to 1937, Crawford starred in a minimum of three films a year, and amassed a total of over 200 roles by the time she died. Most modern audiences, however, likely know of Crawford through her portrayal in the 1978 book and 1981 film of Mommie Dearest. The book, which was written by her adopted daughter Christina, characterized Crawford as an alcoholic and sometimes mentally unbalanced mother who beat her children for minor things, had them do gardening chores in the middle of the night and was easily prone to angry outbursts. This account was later denied by her other children and several other film stars who had known Crawford.
- Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; (March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977) was an Academy Award-winning American actress, named the tenth Greatest Female Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Starting as a dancer on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 1925 and initially played small parts. She became a famous flapper by the end of the '20s. Beginning in the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled fellow MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. She 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. By the end of the decade, Crawford remained one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars, and one of the highest paid women in the U.S. For her performance in Mildred Pierce Crawford won an Academy Award and in the following years, achieved some of her best reviews. In 1955, she became involved with PepsiCo, the company run by her last husband, 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 regularly into the 1960s, when her performances became fewer, and after the release of the horror film Trog in 1970, retired from the screen.
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