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.
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Full filmography
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self
- The Virginian (1962) as Stephanie White
- Great Performances (1971) as Self
- The Lucy Show (1962) as Joan Crawford
- The Merv Griffin Show (1962) as Self
- Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (1956) as Stella Faring
- Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (1956) as Sarah / Melanie Davidson Hobbs
- What's My Line? (1950) as Self
- Route 66 (1960) as Morgan Harper
- The Name of the Game (1968) as Committee Member (uncredited)
- The Oscars (1953) as Self
- The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) as Self
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) as Amanda True
- The Secret Storm (1954) as Joan Borman Kane
- Startime (1959) as Self
- The Sixth Sense (1972) as Joan Fairchild
- General Electric Theater (1953) as Ann Howard
- General Electric Theater (1953) as Ruth Marshall
- General Electric Theater (1953) as Mary Andrews
- Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025) as Self (archive footage)
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) as Blanche Hudson
- The Women (1939) as Crystal Allen
- Grand Hotel (1932) as Flämmchen
- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) as (in "Humoresque") (archive footage)