Joan Crawford - Filmfansite

Birth name: Lucille Fay LeSueur
Birth: 23 March 1904
Died: 10 May 1977
Nationality:

Hollywood Walk Star: Yes
Joan Crawford

Career / Biography

Joan Crawford was a popular actress from her silent black and white films of the 1920's through to the 1960's. She is most well know for her Oscar winning role in Mildred Pierce and opposite Bette Devis in What Ever Happened To Baby Jane. In the 1930's she was one of MGM's biggest stars but as roles declined, she moved over to Warner Brothers. She was married four times and her first husband was Douglas Fairbanks Jr. She was a 1926 WAMPAS Baby.
She came from a poor and difficult childhood but she wanted to be a dancer and got a part on Broadway and was then quickly signed by MGM arriving in Hollywood in 1925. She entered dancing competitions and this helped her get some better roles. The studio gave the name Joan Crawford and appeared in better roles in films like Sally, Irene and Mary. Her breakout role was in the comedy Our Dancing Daughters. Her first sound feature film was Untamed. She mixed comedy, dancing and dramatic roles. In 1931 stared in three successful films with Clark Gable. Grand Hotel was an ensemble film of some of MGM's top stars. She team up with Clark Gable again for Dancing Lady. The Gorgeous Hussy was a epriod drama as well as her biggest film in the 1930's and featured her second husband Franchot Tone. Her career took a slight dip in the late 1930's when labelled box office poison, but came back with The Women. In 1943 she left MGM and Ssigned with Warner Bros. She got the title role in Mildred Pierce despite directir Michael Curtiz wanting Barbara Stanwyck, but her performance in this film noir earned her a Best Actress Oscar. After Posseed for which she was Oscar nominated her career took a down turn. Though in 1952 she stared in RKO's Sudden Fear for which she recieved another Oscar nomination. In a change to her style in 1954 she featured in the western Johnny Guitar. Her fourth husband helped her get her life back on track. Her career had a resurgence in 1962 when she starred opposite Bette Davis in What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? but this was her final significant film.

Films

The Karate Killers (1967)
I Saw What You Did (1965)
What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)
Autumn Leaves (1956)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Torch Song (1953)
Sudden Fear (1952)
The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Flamingo Road (1949)
Possessed (1947)
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
Humoresque (1946)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
A Woman's Face (1941)
The Women (1939)
The Bride Wore Red (1937)
The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
Forsaking All Others (1934)
Chained (1934)
Dancing Lady (1933)
Rain (1932)
Grand Hotel (1932)
Laughing Sinners (1931)
Dance Fool Dance (1931)
Our Blushing Brides (1930)
Untamed (1929)
Our Dancing Daughters (1928) - Silent
The Unknown (1927) - SIlent
Sally, Irene and Mary (1925) - Silent .

Oscars

Won - Best Actress - Mildred Pierce (1945)
Nomination - Best Actress - Sudden Fear (1952)
Nomination - Best Actress - Possessed (1947)

Quote

I played the star Joan Crawford, not the woman Joan Crawford, to the hilt. Partly because of the image thing. Partly because I felt that I photographed better than I actually looked, so I tried desperately to make sure my makeup and wardrobe lived up to the image on screen.
If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined.
The hardest thing about being a star is that you have to be something you’re not.
Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.