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Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Actor · 1906 – 1977 · 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.

Movies24

  • Movie7.9
  • Movie7.5
  • Movie7.4

    Johnny Guitar

    1954 · 490 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

    1982 · 465 votes

  • Movie7.3
  • Movie7.6

    Mildred Pierce

    1945 · 464 votes

  • Movie7.2

    The Women

    1939 · 183 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Grand Hotel

    1932 · 363 votes

  • Movie7.4

    That's Entertainment!

    1974 · 72 votes

  • Movie6.8

    A Woman's Face

    1941 · 74 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Female on the Beach

    1955 · 37 votes

  • Movie7.1
  • Movie5.1

    The Oscar

    1966 · 17 votes

  • Movie7.3
  • Movie6.6

    Strait-Jacket

    1964 · 136 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Flamingo Road

    1949 · 60 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Night Gallery

    1969 · 26 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Daisy Kenyon

    1947 · 55 votes

  • Movie6.2

    I Saw What You Did

    1965 · 72 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Possessed

    1931 · 42 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Reunion in France

    1942 · 22 votes

  • Movie7.0
  • Movie6.3

    The Best of Everything

    1959 · 44 votes

  • Movie6.3

Series17

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV6.1

    Great Performances

    1971 · 25 votes

  • TV6.5

    The Virginian

    1962 · 35 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Name of the Game

    1968 · 13 votes

  • TV6.2
  • TV7.0

    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes

  • TV6.7

    Route 66

    1960 · 20 votes

  • TV4.5

    The Secret Storm

    1954 · 4 votes

  • TV7.1

    The Lucy Show

    1962 · 53 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Colgate Comedy Hour

    1950 · 13 votes

  • TV7.2

    The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

    1964 · 75 votes

  • TV6.8

    Startime

    1959 · 4 votes

  • TV6.3

    The Sixth Sense

    1972 · 10 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV6.5

    The Tim Conway Show

    1970 · 2 votes