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Joan Crawford
Age: 72 (passed away May. 10th, 1977)
Height: 5' 5"
Birth Place: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Born: Mar. 23rd, 1905
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Joan Crawford's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: Lucille LeSueur's parents separated before she was born. By age 16 she had known three fathers, one of whom (a vaudeville theater manager) had given her the name Billie Cassin. By 1915 she and her mother lived in Kansas City and Billie worked in a laundry and also as a menial to pay school tuition. Winning an amateur dance contest in 1923 led to chorus work in Chicago, Detroit and New York. On New Year's Day of 1925 she left for Hollywood. Before her second picture, a "Photoplay" contest led to the name "Joan Crawford". With Our Dancing Daughters (1928) she became a star. She had a string of successes playing a socialite or rags-to-riches shopgirl, most notably as Crystal Allen in The Women (1939). She stayed with MGM for 18 years, signing with Warners in 1943. Mildred Pierce (1945) was a defining role and won her an Oscar. After more than 70 films she married the Chairman of the Board of the Pepsi-Cola Co., a company with which she remained as an executive and spokesman after her husband's fatal heart attack in 1959 (in 1972 when the company's executives saw no further use for her, they pushed her out; after that she referred to the CEO as "Fang"). What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) brought new careers to both Crawford and Bette Davis in 1962--although the two despised each other--but the ensuing roles were neither numerous nor flattering. Horrified by a photo taken of her in 1974, she retired completely, devoting herself to Christian Science and increasing use of vodka. Her four adopted children received little from her $2-million estate: $77,500 each for Cathy and Cindy, nothing for Christopher or Christina Crawford (I) "for reasons best known to them".
TRIVIA:
- Thanked by 'Courtney Love' (qv) in the liner notes of Hole's album "Celebrity Skin".
- Her performance as Mildred Pierce Beragon in _Mildred Pierce (1945)_ (qv) is ranked #93 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
- Interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, USA.
- Cousin-in-law of 'Lucile Fairbanks' (qv).
- Whenever she stayed in a hotel, no matter how good and well-reputed it was, Joan always scrubbed the bathroom herself before using it.
- Was asked to take over 'Carole Lombard (I)' (qv) 's role in _They All Kissed the Bride (1942)_ (qv) after she died in a air crash during a war bond tour. She then donated all of her salary to the Red Cross who found Lombard's body, and promptly fired her agent for taking his usual 10%.
- Adoptive mother of twin sisters 'Cathy Crawford' (qv) and 'Cindy Crawford (III)' (qv), both of whom she adopted in 1947.
- As a child, Joan was playing in the front yard of her home in Texas when she got a large piece of glass lodged in her foot. After it was removed, doctors told her she would likely never walk again without a limp. Joan was determined to be a dancer, so she practiced walking and dancing every day for over six months until she was able to walk without pain. Not only did she make a full recovery, she also fulfilled her dream of becoming a chorus dancer.
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