Joan Crawford | |
|---|---|
 Crawford in 1936 | |
| Born | Lucille Fay LeSueur March 23, 190?[a] San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | (aged 69–73) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Ferncliff Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1924–1972 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4, including Christina |
| Relatives | Hal LeSueur (brother) |
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190?[a] – 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 forced to retire 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. She withdrew from public life and became increasingly reclusive until her death in 1977.
Crawford married four times. Her first three marriages ended in divorce; the last ended with the death of husband Al Steele. She adopted five children, one of whom was reclaimed by his birth mother. Crawford's relationships with her two older children, Christina and Christopher, were acrimonious. Crawford disinherited the two and, after Crawford's death, Christina published the tell-all memoir Mommie Dearest.[7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
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- Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television: Theatre, Film, and Television: Theatre, Film, and Television. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0.
Crawford, Joan [born Lucille Fay LeSueur] (1904-1977)
- Bret, David (2009). Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr. New York City: Da Capo Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7867-3236-4.
She was born Lucille Fay LeSueur, most likely on 23 March 1904 (though she always maintained it was 1908, when birth certificates became state mandatory...)
- Knowles, Mark (2009). The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-7864-3708-5.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas on March 23, 1904. (After she was famous, the date of her birth mysteriously changed to 1906 or 1908)
- Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television: Theatre, Film, and Television: Theatre, Film, and Television. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0.
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- Ware, Susan (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6.
offers the birth date of March 23, 1905
- Cowie, Peter (2009). Joan Crawford: The Enduring Star. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan. ISBN 978-0-8478-3066-4.
On March 23, 1908, by her own reckoning (although the real date may have been 1905, or even 1904), Lucille Fay LeSueur was born ...
- Ware, Susan (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6.
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- Spoto, Donald (2010). Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford. New York City: HarperCollins. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-06-202020-8.
- Nowak, Donna Marie (2010). Just Joan: A Joan Crawford Appreciation. Albany, GA: BearManor Media. pp. 583–. GGKEY:5Y2F5EPURAR.
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- Quirk, Lawrence J.; Schoell, William (2002). Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-8131-2254-0.
On March 23, 1904, in San Antonio, Texas, Anna Bell Johnson LeSueur gave birth to a little girl, whom she and her husband, Thomas, named Lucille Fay. Lucille was the couple's third child; another daughter, Daisy, had died in infancy, and Lucille's brother, Hal, had been born the previous year. (Many years later, when little Lucille was the famous woman known to the world as Joan Crawford, the year of her birth mysteriously changed to 1906 or 1908.)
- "The Second Rise of Joan Crawford". Life. June 23, 1947. p. 45. ISSN 0024-3019. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
The year of Miss Crawford's birth has been variously identified as 1904, 1906, 1908, and 1909, the last being her own favorite..
- Quirk, Lawrence J.; Schoell, William (2002). Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-8131-2254-0.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7.
Crawford, Joan (Lucille LeSueur, March 23, 1904 – May 10, 1977) San Antonio born film star.... Her ashes were placed in the vault beside the coffin of her husband, with the crypt listing her birth year as 1908.
- ^ Crawford, Christina (2017) [1978]. Mommie Dearest. New York City: William Morrow & Company. ISBN 978-1-5040-4908-5.
My mother was born Lucille LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, in 1904, although when she came to Hollywood, she lied about her age and changed the year to 1908.: 20 Publicly, her birth date was always reported as March 23, 1908, but Grandmother told me that she was actually born in 1904.": 66
- ^ Day, Elizabeth (May 24, 2008). "I'll never forgive Mommie: Joan Crawford's daughter gives first interview in 10 years". The Guardian. Retrieved January 29, 2017.