Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1906-03-23
Day of Death
1977-05-10
Place of Birth
San Antonio, Texas, USA
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.
Filmography (164)
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025
Bette and Joan
2017
Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
2016
Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'
2016
Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other
2016The Shirley Eder Tapes
2012
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
2012Possessed
2011
Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
2010
Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France
2009
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
2008
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007
Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy
2007
