Joan Crawford

Also Known As: Lucille Fay LeSueur, Lucille Le Sueur, Billie Cassin, Lucille Fay Le Sueur

Biography: Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? – 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.

Department: Acting

Place of Birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA

Birthday: March 23, 1906

Deathday: May 10, 1977

Adult: No

Gender: Female

Popularity:

4.39%

Known For:

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Mildred Pierce
Daisy Kenyon
Possessed
The Women
The Karate Killers
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Mannequin
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
It's a Great Feeling
Above Suspicion
Johnny Guitar
Grand Hotel
The Unknown
Flamingo Road
Humoresque
A Woman's Face
Reunion in France
I Saw What You Did
Queen Bee
Strait-Jacket
The Damned Don't Cry
Our Dancing Daughters
Berserk!
Autumn Leaves
Rain
They All Kissed the Bride
Susan and God
Dancing Lady
Love on the Run
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Sadie McKee
Trog
Hollywood Canteen
Female on the Beach
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
West Point
Chained
Sudden Fear
Strange Cargo
Possessed
The Stolen Jools
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
When Ladies Meet
The Best of Everything
Bette and Joan
The Caretakers
Harriet Craig
This Woman Is Dangerous
Joan Crawford's Home Movies
Laughing Sinners
Today We Live
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Montana Moon
Our Modern Maidens
Across to Singapore
Forsaking All Others
The Gorgeous Hussy
The Shining Hour
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
The Bride Wore Red
No More Ladies
Goodbye, My Fancy
Dance, Fools, Dance
Our Blushing Brides
Torch Song
Journey to the Unknown
Letty Lynton
The Story of Esther Costello
Pretty Ladies
The Shirley Eder Tapes
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Untamed
The Boob
Spring Fever
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
This Modern Age
The Ice Follies of 1939
I Live My Life
Paid
Girl 27
Della
Possessed
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'
Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other
Dream of Love
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
The Law of the Range
Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death
The Circle
The Duke Steps Out
The Damned Don't Cry: The Crawford Formula - Real and Reel
At Home with Joan Crawford
That's Entertainment!
Winners Of The Wilderness
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Twelve Miles Out
Fast Workers
Journey to Murder
We're switching to Hollywood
The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
1925 Studio Tour
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
That's Entertainment! III
Through Many Windows
Rose-Marie
From the Ends of the Earth
The Taxi Dancer
Lady of the Night
Proud Flesh
The Merry Widow
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
The Only Thing
The Oscar
A Star Is Born World Premiere
A Slave of Fashion
Old Clothes
Sally, Irene and Mary
Blow-Ups of 1946
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Night Gallery
Complicated Women
That's Entertainment, Part II
The Romance of Celluloid
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Fashion News
How to Plan a Movie Murder
Garbo
Woman on the Run
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
The Big Parade of Comedy
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
And the Oscar Goes To...
Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy
Paris
The Understanding Heart
Four Walls
Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
The Midshipman
Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star
Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
This was the Mary
Spielberg
Strange Witness