- Name: Joan Crawford
- Date of Birth: March 23, 1905
- Place of Birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Mini-bio:
Lucille LeSueur's parents separated before she was born. By age 16 she had known three fathers, one of whom (a vaudeville theater manager) had given her the name Billie Cassin. By 1915 she and her mot...( read more)
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Joan Crawford mini-bio: Lucille LeSueur's parents separated before she was born. By age 16 she had known three fathers, one of whom (a vaudeville theater manager) had given her the name Billie Cassin. By 1915 she and her mother lived in Kansas City and Billie worked in a laundry and also as a menial to pay school tuition. Winning an amateur dance contest in 1923 led to chorus work in Chicago, Detroit and New York. On New Year's Day of 1925 she left for Hollywood. Before her second picture, a "Photoplay" contest led to the name "Joan Crawford". With Our Dancing Daughters (1928) she became a star. She had a string of successes playing a socialite or rags-to-riches shopgirl, most notably as Crystal Allen in The Women (1939). She stayed with MGM for 18 years, signing with Warners in 1943. Mildred Pierce (1945) was a defining role and won her an Oscar. After more than 70 films she married the Chairman of the Board of the Pepsi-Cola Co., a company with which she remained as an executive and spokesman after her husband's fatal heart attack in 1959 (in 1972 when the company's executives saw no further use for her, they pushed her out; after that she referred to the CEO as "Fang"). What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) brought new careers to both Crawford and Bette Davis in 1962--although the two despised each other--but the ensuing roles were neither numerous nor flattering. Horrified by a photo taken of her in 1974, she retired completely, devoting herself to Christian Science and increasing use of vodka. Her four adopted children received little from her $2-million estate: $77,500 each for Cathy and Cindy, nothing for Christopher or Christina Crawford "for reasons best known to them".
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Comments
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xXxHarleyxQuinnxXxposted 159 days ago -
P.S. I forgot to mention charitable. Joan did a lot for those considered unfortunate.
posted 166 days ago -
Perfection! Too bad that greedy, ungrateful bitch daughter Christina soiled her good name over money. It's just heartbreaking that most people these days only know her as "Mommie Dearest" and not the gorgeous and talented Oscar winning actress she was.
posted 166 days ago -
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personlly i think joan crawford's taste of selectin movies is more interesting and grittier than davis'.
davis somehow often shows her hommage to the conventional values, and she often plays the brave woman who is willing to sacrifice herself for the right course, such as "marked woman", i mean in her younger years. as for the cross-gendered novelty, i think marlene dietrich and greta garbo are more distinguished, and their bisexuality makes this cross-gendered ambiguity more authentically titilating. davis is always the straight woman who loves man so much that she's willing to go for the ultimate means to gain his love and die for him, the notable example would be "jezeball"...briefly davis' toughness is sweetened with a sort of feminity inside.
back to crawford, she has a sort of moral obscurity which exists in a ruthless world which doesn't spare her. she's not in the league with female affinity since she eliminates her own kind sometimes for survival. no sweetened moral redemption. even her love-struck protagonist could shoot the man she loves for her anguishes in "possessed". in other words, she doesn't sacrifice for man, she drags him along to be perished. proud and untamed. brittle and fragile. elegant but spiteful. no surgary pardon. i find such trait more interesting.
besides, unknown to most, it's crawford and mgm designer adrain who set up the fashion of shoulder paddings in 1930s, and she has her unique sense of fashion despite later her notorious eyebrows have grown intimidating. wouldn't that be a revolution of adrogyny in fashion? minor to marlene's trousers.
unfortunately both crawford and davis turned into grostesque in elder age for survival.posted 550 days ago -
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Joan was an evil fricking Diva.Go Sister!What a fabulous face and terrific actress."Tina!Bring me the AXE!"
posted 752 days ago -
Whatever happened to Baby Jane was a cool movie,her and Bette Davis were at the top of there game!
posted 890 days ago -
Absolutely loved her in Whatever happened to Baby Jane.
The feud between Bette and her was priceless.
Bette had a Coca-Cola machine put on location as Joan was affiliated with Pepsi(her husband was CEO) and Joan got even by wearing weights in her pockets when Bette had to drag her across the set.lol
Priceless.posted 899 days ago -
Joan was a complete BITCH in Mommy Dearest!! She reminds me of my step-mother Eileen!!
posted 899 days ago
