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Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Acting

Born March 23, 1906, San Antonio, Texas, USA

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

Appearances as themselves (60)
  • 2025Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story — Self (archive footage)
  • 2017Bette and Joan — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western? — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar' — Self (archive footage)
  • 2012Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe — Self (archive footage)
  • 2012The Shirley Eder Tapes — Self
  • 20091939: Hollywood's Greatest Year — Self (archive footage)
  • 2007Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story — Self (archive)
  • 2007Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy — Self (archive footage)
  • 2007Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema — Self (archive footage)
  • 200642nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage — Self (archive footage)
  • 2006Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition — Self (archive footage)
  • 2006Stardust: The Bette Davis Story — Self (archive footage) (voice)
  • 2005The Damned Don't Cry: The Crawford Formula - Real and Reel — Self (archive)
  • 2004Checking Out: Grand Hotel — Self / Flaemmchen (archive footage)
  • 2003Complicated Women — Self (archive footage)
  • 2002Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket' — Self (archive footage)
  • 2002Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star — Self (archive footage)
  • 2000Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces — Self (archive footage / uncredited)
  • 1996Joan Crawford: Always the Star — Self (archive footage)
  • 1995Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell — Self (archive footage)
  • 1995The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies — Self (archive footage)
  • 1994Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill — Self (archive footage)
  • 1989Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre — Self
  • 1983Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • 1982Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! — Self (archive footage)
  • 1982Showbiz Ballyhoo — Self (archive footage)
  • 1975Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — Self (archive footage)
  • 1972Hollywood: The Dream Factory — Self (archive footage)
  • Great Performances — Self
  • The Tim Conway Show — Self
  • 1969Garbo, by Joan Crawford — Self - Host / Narrator (voice)
  • 1969Journey to the Unknown — Self - Host
  • 1969The Big Rock Candy Mountain — Self
  • 1964How to Plan a Movie Murder — Self
  • 1962Lykke og krone — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • The Merv Griffin Show — Self
  • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
  • 1961Hollywood: The Selznick Years — Self - Janie Barlow (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • Startime — Self
  • 1959Zwischen Glück und Krone — Self (archive footage)
  • 1954A Star Is Born World Premiere — Self
  • 1953At Home with Joan Crawford — Self
  • The Oscars — Self
  • The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self
  • What's My Line? — Self
  • 1947Through Many Windows — Self - Narrator
  • 1946Blow-Ups of 1946 — Self
  • 1944Hollywood Canteen — Self
  • 1940A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound — Self
  • 1940Hollywood: Style Center of the World — Self
  • 1939From the Ends of the Earth — Self
  • 1938Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6 — Self
  • 1937Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12 — Self (uncredited)
  • 1937The Romance of Celluloid — Self (archive footage)
  • 1931We’re Switching to Hollywood — Self
  • 1930Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 1 — Self
  • 1929The Hollywood Revue of 1929 — Self
  • 19251925 Studio Tour — Self
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