Joan Crawford

At 69 years old, Joan Crawford physical status not available right now. We will update Joan Crawford's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23,190? (May 10, 1977): She began her career as a dancer in touring theatre companies before launching as a chorus girl on Broadway.

Crawford's career began in 1925 when she signed a motion picture contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; her career spanned six decades and fifty-five years, many studios, and scandals.

She was known for her variety of roles as sympathetic and adamant characters in her career, as well as believable yet mutli-layered performances.

Her films ranged from contemporary crime, melodramas, film noir, several historical costume dramas, romances, mysteries, suspense, horror, to three westerns and more than a dozen comedies.

Nevertheless, her greatest triumphs and perhaps most memorable performances were in romantic dramas and melodramas.

Crawford was ranked tenth on the American Film Institute's list of the best female actors of Classic Hollywood Cinema in 1999. Crawford's fame in the 1930s matched and later exceeded that of MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo.

Early life

Born Lucille Fay LeSueur of French-Huguenot, English, Dutch, and Irish ancestry in San Antonio, Texas, Thomas LeSueur's second child, Thomas E. LeSueur (born January 2, 1867), a building worker, and Anna Bell Johnson (born November 29, 1884), later identified as Anna Cassin. Crawford's mother was under the age of 20 when her first two children were born. Daisy Carter was Crawford's one sister, and Hal LeSueur, his brother.

Thomas LeSueur left the family when Lucille was ten months old, and subsequently settled in Abilene, Texas, where he was reportedly working in construction. Crawford's mother married Henry J. Cassin (1868-1922) in Fort Worth, who is incorrectly identified as her second husband rather than her third in the 1910 census. They lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, where Cassin had the Ramsey Opera House, booking such diverse and well-known artists as Anna Pavlova and Eva Tanguay. Crawford, a child who liked the spelling "Billie," loved watching vaudeville acts perform on the stage of her stepfather's theater. Crawford was apparently unaware that Cassin, whom she referred to as "Daddy," was not her biological father; her brother later told her the truth. Cassin was reportedly sexually abusing her when she was 11 years old and then moved to St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic girls' academy.

Crawford's dream from childhood was to be a dancer. She jumped from the front porch of her house one day in an effort to stop piano lessons and broke her foot severely on a cracked milk bottle. She underwent three surgeries to restore the injury, but she was unable to attend elementary school or continue dancing lessons for the first time.

After Cassin was accused of embezzlement, the family migrated to Kansas City, Missouri, in June 1917; although he was cleared, he was blacklisted in Lawton. Cassin, a Catholic, enrolled Crawford at St. Agnes Academy in Kansas City after the move. When her mother and stepfather separated, she stayed at school as a work student, where she spent more time at work, mainly cooking and cleaning, than studying. She later attended Rockingham Academy, as an adult. She started dating and had her first serious relationship: Ray Sterling, a trumpet player who, according to reports, inspired her to push herself academically, she began dating.

She enrolled at Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri, in 1922, giving her year of birth as 1906. She attended Stephens for a few months but then resigned after she realized that she wasn't ready for college. Crawford's education never met the primary level due to her family's chaos.

Source

Career

Crawford, who went by the name Lucille LeSueur, began dancing in traveling revues, and producer Jacob J. Shubert was seen dancing in Detroit. Innocent Eyes, Shubert's 1924 performance, was seen in the chorus line at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. Crawford met a saxophone player named James Welton while performing in Innocent Eyes. The two were reported married in 1924 and lived together for many months, but Crawford did not mention it in later life.

Crawford wanted more work, so he approached Loews Theaters publicist Nils Granlund. Granlund obtained a role for her singer Harry Richman's career and arranged for her to attend a screen test, which he sent to producer Harry Rapf in Hollywood. On December 24, 1924, Rapf informed Granlund that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had offered Crawford a salary of $75 a week. Granlund immediately wired LeSueur, who had returned to her mother's house in Kansas City, with the announcement that she borrowed $400 for travel expenses.

Lucille LeSueur's first film, which was released in 1925, was titled Lady of the Night as the body double for Norma Shearer, MGM's most popular female actress. ZaSu Pitts, a British comedian, appeared in The Circle and Pretty Ladies (1925). In two other 1925 silent films, The Only Thing and The Merry Widow, both small and unbilled roles were followed shortly.

Pete Smith knew she was capable of being a big actress but felt that her name, LeSueur, reminded him of a sewer. In Movie Weekly, Smith created a competition titled "Name the Star" to encourage readers to choose her new stage name. The initial pick was "Joan Arden," but the alternative surname "Crawford" was chosen after another actress was discovered to have prior claim to that name. She later said that she wanted her first name to be pronounced Jo-Anne, and that she disliked the word Crawford because it sounded like "crawfish," but that she also liked the security" that went with the name.

Crawford, who was growing dissatisfied with the size and quality of the parts she was given, embarked on a war of self-promotion. "No one decided to make Joan Crawford a film," MGM screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas said. Joan Crawford came to become a celebrity after Joan Crawford decided to become a comedian." She began dancing in the afternoons and evenings at hotels around Hollywood and dance venues on the beach piers, where she often won dance competitions with her performances of the Charleston and the Black Bottom.

She sleeps with the boss!"

Crawford was one of 1926's most popular baby stars, alongside Mary Astor, Dolores del Ro, Janet Gaynor, and Fay Wray. She co-starred in Paris with Charles Ray in the same year. She became the romantic lead to several of MGM's top male stars, including Ramón Novarro, John Gilbert, William Haines, and Tim McCoy, within a few years.

Crawford appeared in The Unknown (1927), starring Lon Chaney, Sr., as a carnival knife thrower with no arms who wants to marry her. She said she learned more about acting from Chaney's performances than she did from anyone else in her career. "It was then" she said, "I became aware for the first time of the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting." She appeared in Spring Fever, her close friend William Haines' first film the pair made together in 1927.

Crawford appeared opposite Ramón Novarro in Across to Singapore in 1928, but it was her role as Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) that led to her fame. Clara Bow, the original It girl and Hollywood's top flapper, was cast as a symbol of modern 1920s-style femininity who rivaled her. A number of hits followed Our Dancing Daughters, including two more flapper-themed films in which Crawford embodied for her army of followers (many of whom were women) an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl.

Crawford, F. Scott Fitzgerald: a little bit of history.

Crawford summed up her glamorous on-screen persona by saying, "If you want to see the girl next door, go next door."

Crawford married Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. at Saint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church (also known as "The Actors' Chapel") in Manhattan on June 3, 1929, although neither was Catholic. Fairbanks was the son of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford's stepson, who were considered Hollywood royalty. Fairbanks, Sr., and Pickford were unable to marry, and did not invite the couple to their house in Pickfair for eight months after the wedding.

Crawford and Fairbanks, Sr., eventually warmed; she named him Uncle Doug, but not one that close friends used throughout her lifetime. She and Pickford, on the other hand, continued to despise each other. Crawford and Fairbanks, Jr., became more popular visitors after their first invitation. Crawford was either left with Pickford, who would retire to her quarters, or simply left alone, when the Fairbanks men golfed together.

She said:

Sound films became all the rage after the introduction of The Jazz Singer in 1927, the first feature-length film with audible dialogue. Many, if not all, involved with the film industry were afraid of the change from silent to sound; some silent film stars became chastised due to their nefarious voices and difficult-to-understand accents; or simply for refusing to make the change from silent to talkies.

Many studios and actors avoided making the switch as long as possible, especially MGM, which was the last of the major studios to switch to sound. The 1929 Hollywood Revue was one of the studio's first all-talking films and the studio's first attempt to showcase their actors' ability to make the transition from silent to sound. Crawford was one of the dozen or more MGM characters included in the film; during the first act, she performed the song "Got a Feeling for You." In the 1920s and 1930s, she studied singing with Estelle Liebling, Beverly Sills' voice teacher.

Crawford made a good jump to talkies in her first acting role in the all-talking feature film Untamed (1929), co-starring Robert Montgomery. Despite the film's success, critics mixed it, saying that although Crawford appeared to be tense at making the change to sound, she had become one of the world's most well-known actresses. Montana Moon (1930), an uneasy blend of Western clichés and music, teamed her with John Mack Brown and Ritez. Despite the fact that the film had censorship issues, it was still a huge success at the time of its release. Our Blushing Brides (1930), the final installment of the Our Dancing Daughters franchise starring Robert Armstrong and Anita Page, where Crawford "carries the burden of dramatics in this photoplay and comes off magnificently and intelligently." Paid (1930), her sister's next film, married Robert Armstrong, was another hit, and she was another hit. MGM began to place Crawford in more advanced roles during the early sound period rather than attempting to sell her flapper-inspired persona of the silent era. MGM cast Crawford in five films in 1931. Clark Gable, the studio's soon-to-be-biggest male actor and "King of Hollywood," was teamed by three of them. Crawford and Gable were the first couple of dance, fools, and dance, who were released in February 1931. Laughing Sinners, Harry Beaumont's second film together, was released in May 1931 and also co-starred Neil Hamilton. Clarence Brown produced Possessed, their third film together, in October. Crawford's reputation as one of MGM's top female stars of the decade, as well as Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, and Jean Harlow were hugely popular with audiences and were generally well received by scholars, establishing Crawford as one of the top female stars of the decade. Despite unfavorable reviews, her only other notable film of 1931, This Modern Age, was released in August, with moderate success.

In the film Grand Hotel, directed by Edmund Goulding, MGM will cast her again. Crawford co-starred Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, and Wallace Beery, among others in the studio's first all-star film. She starred as the middle-class stenographer to Beery's controlling general director, earning her third award. Crawford later confessed to being anxious during the filming of the film because she was filming with well-known actors and was sad that she was missing no scenes with one she had admired, the "divine Garbo." Grand Hotel was established in April 1932 to a great deal and commercial success. It was one of the year's best-grossing films and received the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Crawford's Letty Lynton (1932) was a huge success. A plagiarism lawsuit prompting MGM to drop it soon after it was released; it is now known as the "lost" Crawford film. Crawford's large ruffled sleeves, which was also copied by Macy's, became a hit style that same year.

In Rain (1932), a film adaptation of John Colton's 1923 play, she appeared prostitute Sadie Thompson on loan to United Artists. In the 1928 film version, actor Jeanne Eagels appeared on stage, and actress Gloria Swanson created the role. Crawford's appearance was lauded, but the film was not a success. Despite Rain's demise in 1932, Crawford's first "Top Ten Money-Making Stars Poll" placed him third in the box office, behind only Marie Dressler and Janet Gaynor. She remained on the list for the next several years, last being on it in 1936. Crawford divorced Fairbanks in May 1933, citing "grievous mental cruelty" as the reason. Fairbanks had "a cynical and skepticism" toward her family members, according to Crawford, who said they had "loud arguments about the most trivial topics" that would persist "long into the night."

She appeared in the hit Dancing Lady (1933), where she received top billing after her divorce. She appeared in Sadie McKee (1934), opposite Tone and Gene Raymond, for the title role. She was matched with Gable for the fifth time (1934), and for the sixth time in Forsaking All Others (1934). Crawford's films during the 1930s were some of the most successful and highest-grossing films of the mid-1930s.

Crawford married Franchot Tone, a stage actor from New York who wanted to raise money for his theatre company in 1935. At Crawford's Brentwood home, the couple produced a small theatre for select groups of friends who lived in Clark Gable and Charley Chase. Tone and Crawford met together in Today We Live (1933), but Crawford was hesitant about embarking on another love right after she was disbanded from Fairbanks.

Crawford helped promote Tone's Hollywood career before and during his marriage, but he was not concerned about being a celebrity, instead wanting to be an actor, and Crawford was dissatisfied with the effort. They tried on two separate occasions for children during their marriage, with one ending in miscarriage. Tone is accused of overindulging and becoming physically violent. She applied for divorce, which was denied in 1939. Crawford and Tone revived their friendship, and Tone even suggested that they remarry in 1964. Crawford arranged for his funeral and his ashes to scatter at Muskoka Lakes, Canada, when he died in 1968.

Crawford ruled as a well-known film actress well into the mid-1930s. No More Ladies (1935) co-starred Robert Montgomery and then-husband Franchot Tone, and it was a hit. Crawford had long pleaded with MGM's head Louis B. Mayer to appear in more dramatic roles, and though he was hesitant, he starred her in the sophisticated comedy-drama I Live My Life (1935), directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and was well received by critics.

She appeared in The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), as well as Tone and Robert Taylor. It was a critical and box-office success, and it was one of Crawford's biggest hits of the decade. Clark Gable's Love on the Run (1936), a romantic comedy directed by W. S. Van Dyke, was her seventh film co-starring Clark Gable.

Despite the fact that Crawford remained a well-known MGM actress and that her films still earned money, her fame in the late 1930s slowed. Crawford was named "Queen of the Movies" by Life magazine in 1937. She went from seventh to sixteenth place at the box office this year, and her public image began to decline. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) by Richard Boles lawski The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) starred her opposite William Powell in their sole screen pairing. Crawford's last box-office performance came before she "box office poison" phase.

For the seventh — and final — time in The Bride Wore Red (1937), she co-starred opposite Franchot Tone. The majority of commentators were generally unfavorably disposed of the film. It was also a financial loss, making it one of MGM's biggest losses of the year. "Restore Crawford to her throne as the queen of the working girls," Mannequin, co-starring Spencer Tracy, who was also released in 1937.

Crawford, along with Greta Garbo, Luise Rainer, John Barrymore, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Dolores del Ro, and others, was dubbed "Box Office Poison" in an open letter to the Independent Film Journal on May 3, 1938. The list was compiled by Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Association of America. Although these actors had "unquestionable" dramatic abilities, Brandt said that their high salaries did not reflect in their ticket sales, therefore affecting the movie exhibitors concerned. Critics loved Crawford's sequel to Frank Borzage's The Shining Hour (1938), which also starred Margaret Sullavan and Melvyn Douglas, but it was a box-office flop.

Crystal Allen, a home-wrecker in The Women, made a comeback in 1939 in the role as her professional nemesis, Norma Shearer. In the unglamorous role of Julie in Strange Cargo (1940), her eighth—and final—film with Clark Gable a year later. She appeared in A Woman's Face (1941), a Swedish film En kvinnas ansikte remake in which Ingrid Bergman appeared in the lead role three years ago. While Crawford's role was only a modest box office success, several commentators praised her performance.

Crawford adopted her first child, a daughter, in 1940. Because she was single, California law barred her from adopting within the state; so, she arranged the adoption through a Las Vegas agency. The child was temporarily named Joan, until Crawford changed her name to Christina. After a six-month courtship, Crawford married actor Phillip Terry on July 21, 1942. The couple adopted Christopher, whom they named Christopher, together, but his birth mother reclaimed the boy. Crawford changed the child's name to Christopher Crawford after the marriage ended in 1946.

Crawford's MGM deal came to an end on June 29, 1943, after 18 years. MGM bought her out for $100,000 in lieu of the last film under her custody.

Crawford, who was then on the payroll for $500,000, was hired by Warner Bros. in a three-movie contract and was placed on the payroll on July 1, 1943. Hollywood Canteen (1944), an all-star morale booster film starring many other leading movie stars at the time, was her first film for the studio. Crawford said that one of the main reasons she signed with Warner Bros. was because she wanted to play the character "Mattie" in a late 1944 film version of Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome (1911).

Bette Davis was the studio's first choice to play Mildred Pierce (1945), but she wanted to play the title role. Davis, on the other hand, had to leave the part. Crawford did not want Crawford to appear in the role, but instead lobbied for Barbara Stanwyck's casting. In the film, Warner Bros. defied Curtiz and Crawford Crawford. Curtiz blasted Crawford throughout the film's entirety. "She comes over here with her high-hat airs and her goddamn shoulder pads; why should I waste my time directing a has-been?" Curtiz ordered Crawford to demonstrate her competence by performing a screen test; she agreed. Curtiz accepted Crawford's casting after the test. Crawford was caught on shoulder pads and he proceeded to tear the top of her dress off the camera right away. "I was wearing a bra," she said. Mildred Pierce, a resounding critical and commercial success, was a resounding critical and commercial success. It epitomized Warner Bros. films of the late forties, with its lush visual style and hard-boiled film noir sensibility. Crawford was named the Best Actress in a Leading Role by the Academy Awards.

Crawford's film career was revived thanks to Mildred Pierce's success. She appeared in "a sequence of first-rate melodramas" for many years. Humoresque (1946), co-starring John Garfield, was her next film, about a woman's love affair with a younger man. In Possessed (1947), she appeared with Van Heflin for her second Academy Award nomination. In Daisy Kenyon (1947), she appeared alongside Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda, and in Flamingo Road (1949), she and a corrupt southern sheriff played by Sydney Greenstreet have a long feud. She made a cameo in It's a Great Feeling (1949), mocking her own screen portrait. She appeared in the film noir The Damned Don't Cry and in the melodrama Harriet Craig in 1950.

Crawford had two more children, Cindy and Cathy, who she named in 1947. The children were adopted from Tennessee Children's Home Society, an orphanage/child trafficking unit operated by Georgia Tann, a source used by several childless Hollywood stars to adopt before Tann's discovery and death in 1952.

Crawford's "worst" was released from her Warner Bros. contract after the completion of This Woman Is Dangerous (1952). By this time, Warners was losing interest in her due to "poorible scripts, poor leading men, and inept cameramen," she said, so she decided to move forward. Sudden Fear for RKO Radio Pictures' third — and final —Academy Award nomination came later this year.

Crawford appeared on the radio show The Screen Guild Theater in January 8, 1939; Good News; Baby; Arch Oboler's Lights Out; The Word on Everyman's Theatre (1941); Chained on the Lux Radio Theater; and Norman Corwin's Document A/777 (1948). She appeared in anthology television series in the 1950s, and she was hired as a pilot for The Joan Crawford Show in 1959.

Crawford married Alfred Steele, her fourth — and final —husband at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas on May 10, 1955. Crawford and Steele were at a party in 1954. Steele had been president of Pepsi-Cola by that time. He was later promoted to chairman of the board and CEO of Pepsi-Cola. Following the marriage, Crawford travelled extensively on behalf of Pepsi. She estimated that she traveled over 100,000 miles a year for the company in 1966. In April 1959, Steele died as a result of a heart attack. Crawford was elected to the board of directors following Steele's death.

Crawford received his sixth annual "Pote Award" in the shape of a bronze Pepsi bottle. It was given to the employee who made the most contribution to company sales. Crawford was released from Pepsi at the age of 65 in 1973.

Crawford, who received an Academy Award nomination for her work in 1952's Sudden Fear, continued to work steadily through the remainder of the decade. Following a 10-year absence from MGM, she returned to that studio to star in Torch Song (1953), a musical tragedy based on the life of a struggling stage actress who falls in love with a blind pianist played by Michael Wilding. Despite being widely circulated as Crawford's return to the film, it was a monumental and financial loss, best known for its camp appeal today. She appeared in Johnny Guitar, a cult film directed by Nicholas Ray and co-starring Sterling Hayden and Mercedes McCambridge in 1954. She appeared in Female on the Beach (1955), as well as in Queen Bee (1955), as Joan Ireland. She appeared in Autumn Leaves (1956) as a young Cliff Robertson and filmed a pivotal role in Esther Costello (1957), co-starring Rossano Brazzi. Crawford, who had been left near-penniless following Alfred Steele's death, has only played a small part in The Best of Everything (1959). Despite the fact that she was not the star of the film, she received raves. Crawford later described the role as one of her personal favorites. Joan Crawford had been back in 1961, with the addition of Robert Aldrich's "What Happened to Baby Jane?"

Blanche Hudson, an elderly, disabled former A-list film actress who lives in fear of her psychotic sister Jane, appeared in the highly acclaimed psychological thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962): A new one (1962) appeared in this newspaper. Despite the actresses' earlier controversies, Crawford reportedly suggested Bette Davis for the role of Jane. The two actors denied there was no feud between them in the public. Davis and Crawford were both aware of how crucial the film was to their respective careers, and they said, "It's legitimate to say that they actually detested each other but they did absolutely fine."

Their public comments against each other launched their animosity into a life-long feud after filming was complete. The film was a huge success, recouping its costs within eleven days of its national premiere and reviving Davis and Crawford's careers. Davis was nominated for an Academy Award for her appearance as Jane Hudson. Crawford called each of the other Oscar candidates (Katharine Hepburn, Lee Remick, Geraldine Page, and Anne Bancroft, all East Coast actors, to tell them that if they did not attend the ceremony, she would be able to accept the award on their behalf; all agreed. Both Davis and Crawford were backstage – Crawford was the best director – when Anne Bancroft was announced as the winner, and Crawford accepted the award on her behalf. Davis denied Crawford's allegations that she had campaigned against her for the remainder of her life, a charge Crawford denied.

Crawford appeared in William Castle's horror mystery Strait-Jacket (1964). In Hush, Aldrich cast Crawford and Davis...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). Crawford returned to Hollywood and opened a hospital after a suspected campaign of bullying by Davis on location in Louisiana. Crawford was forced to exchange her with Olivia de Havilland after a long absence, during which Crawford was accused of falsely feigning illness. Crawford, who was devastated, said, "I heard the news of my replacement over the radio, lying in my hospital bed." "I cried for nine hours." Crawford raged against Davis and Aldrich for the remainder of her life, with Aldrich's comment, "He is a man who likes violent, horrendous, vile things." 'Isaca's apprehensions "I am a man who likes bad, horrendous, vile stuff" and "I am very fond of Miss Crawford." Despite being renamed, a brief video of Crawford making it into the film when she was seen sitting in a taxi in a wide shot.

In 1965, she appeared as Amy Nelson in Another William Castle vehicle, I Saw What You Did. Monica Rivers appeared in Herman Cohen's horror thriller film Berserk. (1967): A.k.a. a.m. Crawford appeared on The Lucy Show after the film's release. "Lucy and the Lost Star" first appeared on February 26, 1968. Crawford flopped during rehearsals, and on-set, leading actress Lucille Ball to suggest replacing her with Gloria Swanson. Crawford was letter-perfect on the day of the performance, which included dancing the Charleston, and gaining two standing ovations from the studio audience.

Christina, Crawford's 29-year-old daughter, who was then appearing on New York's soap opera The Secret Storm, needed urgent medical attention for a ruptured ovarian tumor. Despite the fact that Christina's character was 28 years old and Crawford was in her sixties, Crawford promised to continue playing her role until Christina was able to return, to which producer Gloria Monty eagerly agreed.

Crawford's appearance in the 1969 television film Night Gallery (which served as the pilot to the series that followed) was one of Steven Spielberg's first directing careers. Crawford appeared in the first episode of The Tim Conway Show, which aired on January 30, 1970. She appeared in Herman Cohen's science fiction horror film Trog (1970), rounding out a career that spanned 45 years and more than 80 motion pictures. Crawford made three more television appearances, including one as Stephanie White in a 1970 episode ("The Nightmare") of The Virginian and as Joan Fairchild (her last dramatic appearance) in a 1972 episode ("Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death") of The Sixth Sense.

Source