Known For
Acting
Born
Mar 23, 1906
Died
May 10, 1977
Place of Birth
San Antonio, Texas, USA
Credits
188 titles
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.
Known For
Filmography
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Self (archive footage)
The Green Fog
Bette and Joan
Self (archive footage)
Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other
Self (archive footage)
Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'
Self (archive footage)
Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
Self (archive footage)
The Shirley Eder Tapes
Self
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
Possessed
(archive footage)
Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Various Roles (archive footage)
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Self (archive)
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy
Self (archive footage)
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
Self (archive footage)
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Self (archive footage) (voice)
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Self (archive footage)
The Damned Don't Cry: The Crawford Formula - Real and Reel
Self (archive)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
Self / Flaemmchen (archive footage)
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star
Self (archive footage)
Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
Self (archive footage)
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Self (archive footage / uncredited)
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Self (archive footage)
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
Self (archive footage)
The Casting Couch
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
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 (archive footage) (uncredited)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
(in "Humoresque") (archive footage)
Showbiz Ballyhoo
Self (archive footage)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
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 (archive footage)
Great Performances
Self
Journey to Murder
Host
Trog
Dr. Brockton
Night Gallery
Miss Menlo
Garbo, by Joan Crawford
Self - Host / Narrator (voice)