Joan Crawford
Lucille Fay LeSueur, who is better known by her stage name of Joan Crawford (March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977) was an Academy Award winning American actress.
She was born in San Antonio, Texas, a daughter of Thomas E. LeSueur (1868-1938) and Anna Bell Johnson (1884-1958). Lucille was the youngest of three children. Her older sister and brother were Daisy LeSueur, who died as a very young child, and Hal LeSueur, who was born September 3, 1903.
Her mother later married Henry Cassin. The family lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, where Mr. Cassin ran a theater, and later in Kansas City, Missouri.
Lucille preferred the nickname Billie, and she loved watching live acts perform. Her ambition was to be a dancer.
She began her career as a chorus dancer under the name Billie Cassin, eventually making her way to New York City. In 1925 she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio under the name Lucille LeSueur and went to Culver City, California.
Starting out in silent movies, she worked hard to ensure that her contract with the studio would be renewed. A movie-magazine contest was the source of her best-known stage name. The female contestant who entered the name "Joan Crawford" was awarded $500.00.
Joan Crawford acted in over eighty films between 1925 and 1970. She also worked in radio and television, and she was a publicity executive for Pepsi-Cola in the 1960s.
She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Mildred Pierce in 1945, and was nominated for Possessed (1947) and Sudden Fear (1952).
She had four husbands: actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (married June 3, 1929 in New York City, divorced 1933), Franchot Tone (married October 11, 1935 in New Jersey, divorced 1939), and Philip Terry (married July 21, 1942 in Ventura County, California, divorced 1946); and Pepsi-Cola chairman Alfred N. Steele (married May 10, 1955 in Las Vegas, Nevada).
Joan and her last husband, Alfred Steele, moved to New York City. He died there on April 6, 1959, leaving her a widow.
After her death, a book titled Mommie Dearest, which was written by the eldest of her four adopted children, Christina Crawford, was published. Friends of Joan were shocked by the tales of outrageous cruelty and called it fictitious.
It was made into a film starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, which was seen to be camp by most viewers. Audiences howled with laughter at the overacted, melodramatic portrayal of Crawford. And the child abuse, control issues, et cetera, were acted out as outlandishly as they were written.
Joan Crawford died in New York City of a heart attack while apparently ill with cancer. In her will, she gave the two youngest of her adopted children, Cindy and Cathy, $77,500.00 each. But she explicitly disinherited the eldest two, Christina and Christopher, with the phrase "...for reasons which should be well known to them."
She was cremated and her ashes buried with her last husband, Alfred Steele, in Ferncliff Cemetery at Hartsdale, New York.
Her foot and hand prints are immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine Street.
Filmography Of Joan Crawford:
Lady of the Night (1925) (uncredited) ... Double for Norma Shearer
Proud Flesh (1925) (uncredited) ... Bit Part
Slave of Fashion, A (1925) (uncredited) ... Mannequin
Merry Widow, The (1925) (uncredited) ... Extra
Pretty Ladies (1925) (as Lucille Le Sueur) ... Bobby, a showgirl
Circle, The (1925) (uncredited) ... Young Lady Catherine
Midshipman, The (1925) (uncredited) ... Extra
Old Clothes (1925) ... Mary Riley
Only Thing, The (1925) (uncredited) ... Party Guest ... aka Four Flaming Days (1925) (USA)
Sally, Irene and Mary (1925) ... Irene
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) ... Betty Burton
Paris (1926) ... The Girl
Boob, The (1926) ... Jane
Winners of the Wilderness (1927) ... Renée Contrecoeur
Taxi Dancer, The (1927) ... Joslyn Poe
Understanding Heart, The (1927) ... Monica Dale
Unknown, The (1927) ... Estellita or Nanon, Zanzi's Daughter
Twelve Miles Out (1927) ... Jane
Spring Fever (1927) ... Allie Monte
Dream of Love (1928) ... Adrienne Lecouvreur
Our Dancing Daughters (1928) ... Diana Medford
Four Walls (1928) ... Frieda
Across to Singapore (1928) ... Priscilla Crowninshield
Rose-Marie (1928) ... Rose-Marie
Law of the Range, The (1928) ... Betty Dallas
West Point (1928) ... Betty Channing
Hollywood Snapshots #11 (1929) ... Herself
Hollywood Revue of 1929, The (1929) ... Specialty
Untamed (1929) ... Alice "Bingo" Dowling
Our Modern Maidens (1929) ... Billie Brown
Duke Steps Out, The (1929) ... Susie
Paid (1930) .... Mary Turner
Our Blushing Brides (1930) ... Gerry Marsh
Montana Moon (1930) ... Joan 'Montana' Prescott
Grand Hotel (1932) ... Flaemmchen
Possessed (1931) ... Marian Martin, aka Mrs. Moreland
This Modern Age (1931) ... Valentine "Val" Winters
Laughing Sinners (1931) ... Ivy "Bunny" Stevens ... aka Complete Surrender (1931) (USA)
Slippery Pearls, The (1931) ... Herself ... aka Stolen Jools, The (1931)
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) ... Bonnie "Bon" Jordan, aka Mary Smith
Letty Lynton (1932) ... Letty Lynton
Rain (1932) ... Sadie Thompson
Screen Snapshots (1932) ... Herself
Today We Live (1933) ... Diana "Ann" Boyce-Smith
Dancing Lady (1933) ... Janie "Duchess" Barlow
Sadie McKee (1934) ... Sadie McKee Brennan
Chained (1934) ... Diane Lovering, also called 'Dinah'
Forsaking All Others (1934) ... Mary Clay
No More Ladies (1935) ... Marcia Townsend
I Live My Life (1935) ... Kay Bentley, aka Ann Morrison
Gorgeous Hussy, The (1936) ... Margaret "Peggy" O'Neal Eaton
Love on the Run (1936) ... Sally Parker
Bride Wore Red, The (1937) ... Anni Pavlovitch, aka Anne Vivaldi
Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The (1937) ... Fay Cheyney
Mannequin (1937) ... Jessica Cassidy
Shining Hour, The (1938) ... Olivia Riley
Ice Follies of 1939 (1939) ... Mary McKay
Women, The (1939) ... Crystal Allen
Strange Cargo (1940) ... Julie
Susan and God (1940) ... Susan Trexel
Woman's Face, A (1941) ... Anna Holm, aka Ingrid Paulson
When Ladies Meet (1941) ... Mary Howard ... aka Strange Skirts (1941)
They All Kissed the Bride (1942) ... Margaret Drew
Reunion in France (1942) ... Michelle de la Becque
Above Suspicion (1943) ... Frances Myles
Hollywood Canteen (1944) ... Herself
Mildred Pierce (1945) ... Mildred Pierce
Humoresque (1946) ... Helen Wright
Possessed (1947) ... Louise Howell Graham
Daisy Kenyon (1947) ... Daisy Kenyon
Flamingo Road (1949) ... Lane Bellamy
It's a Great Feeling (1949) (uncredited) ... Herself
Damned Don't Cry, The (1950) ... Ethel Whitehead/Lorna Hansen Forbes
Harriet Craig (1950) ... Harriet Craig
Goodbye, My Fancy (1951) ... Agatha Reed
This Woman Is Dangerous (1952) ... Beth Austin
Sudden Fear (1952) ... Myra Hudson
Torch Song (1953) ... Jenny Stewart
Secret Storm, The (1954) TV Series .... Joan Boreman Kane #2
Johnny Guitar (1954) ... Vienna
Female on the Beach (1955) ... Lynn Markham
Queen Bee (1955) ... Eva Phillips
Autumn Leaves (1956) ... Millicent Wetherby
Story of Esther Costello, The (1957) ... Margaret Landi
Best of Everything, The (1959) ... Amanda Farrow
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) ... Blanche Hudson
Caretakers, The (1963) ... Lucretia Terry
Strait-Jacket (1964) ... Lucy Harbin
Four Days in November (1964) (archive footage) ... Herself (signs autographs)
MGM's Big Parade of Comedy (1964) ... aka Big Parade of Comedy, The (1964)
Della (1964) ... Della Chappell ... aka Fatal Confinement (1964)
I Saw What You Did (1965) ... Amy Nelson
Karate Killers, The (1967) ... Amanda True ... aka Five Daughters Affair, The (1967)
Berserk! (1968) ... Monica Rivers ... aka Circus of Terror (1968)
Secret Storm, The (1968)(temporary replacement for Christina Crawford)
Night Gallery (1969) (TV) ... Claudia Menlo
Trog (1970) ... Dr. Brockton
That's Entertainment! (1974) (archive footage)
That's Action (1977) ... Herself
Hudson ("What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?") ... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) ... Blanche
That's Dancing! (1985) (archive footage)