Joan Crawford: The Life Story Behind Hollywood's Tough Star
In this post
Joan Crawford was a woman who remade herself, again and again, until the world could not look away. She began as a dancer in Texas, a girl who had no money and no family to help her, and she became one of the most famous actresses in Hollywood, a star who worked for more than forty years, who won an Academy Award, and who was known for her large eyes, her strong shoulders, and her iron will. She was not a sweet star, and she did not want to be one. She was a fighter, a woman who worked hard, who demanded the best, and who never gave up, even when the world told her to.
She was born Lucille LeSueur, in San Antonio, Texas, in 1904, though the exact year is still argued about, and she grew up poor, moving from place to place, working as a dancer, and dreaming of a better life. She went to New York, she danced on Broadway, she went to Hollywood, and she became a star in Our Dancing Daughters, and then in Grand Hotel, and then, after many years, in Mildred Pierce, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was married four times, she adopted four children, and she died in 1977, at the age of seventy-three, after a long and full life that was rich in work, in love, in loss, and in laughter.
The story of her life is a story of a woman who would not stay down. She was a dancer, she was a flapper, she was a dramatic actress, she was a businesswoman on the board of Pepsi-Cola, and she was a mother, and she was all of those things at once, and she did each of them with a will that made people admire her, and fear her, in equal measure. Her films are still watched today, by people who wonder how one woman could do so much with so little, and how she could keep going, year after year, when so many other stars faded away.
A Texas Girl Who Learned to Dance
Lucille Fay LeSueur was born on 23 March 1904 in San Antonio, Texas, though some records say 1905, 1906, or even 1908, and the exact year has been argued about for many years. Her father, Thomas, left the family when she was young, and her mother, Anna, raised her and her brother alone, working hard, moving from place to place, and trying to give her children a better life. The girl grew up poor, in a house where money was tight, and where a child learned early how to work, how to survive, and how to dream of something more.
As a girl, she loved to dance, and she was good at it. She danced in her bedroom, she danced on the street, she danced anywhere she could, and she found that dancing gave her a way to express feelings that she could not put into words. She went to school when she could, but her schooling was broken up by moves, and by work, and she did not have the chance to show how clever she was in school, because she was always working, always tired, always thinking about the next meal. She learned to read, she learned to write, and she learned to dance, and dancing became her way out, her way to a better life.
She worked as a dancer in Texas, and then she went to New York, where she danced in nightclubs, in revues, and on Broadway, in shows that were popular with audiences who liked a good dance, a good song, and a pretty girl. She was not a star, but she was a working dancer, and she was in demand, because she was pretty, because she was talented, and because she worked hard. She changed her name to Joan Crawford, taking Joan from a contest held by a film studio, and Crawford from a name she liked, and she began the long work of becoming an actress.
She was a young woman with no money, no family to help her, and no education to fall back on, but she had a will, and she had a talent, and she had a belief that she could make a better life for herself, if she worked hard enough. That belief stayed with her for the rest of her life, through Hollywood, through four marriages, through motherhood, and through old age, and it is the reason that her story is still told today.
Broadway, Hollywood, and Our Dancing Daughters
Crawford worked on Broadway for a time, dancing in revues, and she was noticed by a talent scout from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, one of the biggest film studios in Hollywood, who invited her to come to California and to make films. She went, in 1925, and she began to work in small parts, learning how to act for the camera, which was different from acting for the stage, because the camera was close, and it could see everything, every small movement, every small change in the face. She learned to be still, to be quiet, to let the camera come to her, and that stillness became one of her greatest tools.
In 1928, she played in Our Dancing Daughters, a silent film about three young women in the Jazz Age, who dance, who drink, who love, and who try to find happiness in a world that is changing fast. Crawford played Diana Medford, a young woman who is wild, who is free, and who is looking for love, and her performance was a sensation. Audiences loved her, because she was different from the other actresses of the time, because she was modern, because she was bold, and because she made Diana feel like a real person, a person who wanted more than the world would give her. The film was a great success, and it made Crawford a star, and it made her known all over the world as the flapper, the modern girl, the woman of the Jazz Age.
She played in many other films in the late 1920s and early 1930s, in Our Modern Maidens, in Montana Moon, in Paid, and in each of them she brought the same energy, the same boldness, and the same belief that a woman should be free to live her own life. She was a star, but she was not a star in the usual sense. She was a working actress who happened to be famous, and she treated her fame as a job, not as a life, and she went home to her family at the end of the day, and she lived a plain, decent life.
She also worked with some of the best directors of her time, and she learned from them, and she grew as an actress, film by film, year by year. She was not a beautiful actress in the usual sense, but she had large eyes, strong shoulders, and a presence that made people watch her, and directors loved that, because it made their films feel important.
Grand Hotel and the Queen of MGM
In 1932, Crawford played in Grand Hotel, a film about a group of people who stay in a grand hotel in Berlin, and whose lives cross for a few days. She played Flaemmchen, a young stenographer who dreams of becoming an actress, and who is willing to do anything to make her dream come true. The film starred Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and Wallace Beery, and it was a great success, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Crawford’s performance was praised for its warmth, its humour, and its honesty. She was twenty-eight years old, and she was one of the most famous actresses in the world, and the best years of her career were still ahead of her.
She played in many other films in the 1930s, in Rain, in which she played Sadie Thompson, a woman of loose morals who is judged by a missionary, in The Women, in which she played Crystal Allen, a woman who steals another woman’s husband, and in many other films that showed her range, her talent, and her willingness to play women who were not sweet, who were not easy to love, and who were real. She was the queen of MGM, the studio that had signed her, and she was known for her hard work, her discipline, and her professionalism. She arrived on set on time, she knew her lines, she did her work, and she expected others to do the same.
She was married, in those years, to Douglas Fairbanks Jr., the son of the famous actor, and then to Franchot Tone, an actor she met in Hollywood, and each marriage ended in divorce, because Crawford was a woman who put her career first, and who was not easy to live with, because she was strong-willed, because she was honest, and because she would not pretend to be something she was not. She had no children of her own, and she adopted four children, Christina, Christopher, and twins Cathy and Cindy, and she tried to be a good mother, even when her work took her away from home.
She also became known for her style, for her large shoulder pads, for her bold make-up, for her elegant clothes, and for the way she carried herself, as if she were a queen, even when she was playing a stenographer, or a dancer, or a mother. That style became her trademark, and it made her famous, and it made her a fashion icon, a woman whose clothes and whose look were copied by women all over the world.
Rain, The Women, and the Star of the 1930s
In 1932, Crawford played Sadie Thompson in Rain, a film based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham about a woman who arrives on a rainy island in the South Pacific and is judged by a stern missionary. Sadie is bold, she laughs loudly, she enjoys life, and the missionary believes she must be punished for the way she lives, and Crawford played her with a warmth that made audiences take her side. The film was a brave choice for a young star, because Sadie is not a sweet heroine, and many people in 1932 were shocked by her, but Crawford did not soften the part, and her performance showed that she was willing to play a woman the world looked down on and still make her human.
A year later, in 1933, she played Janie Barlow in Dancing Lady, a musical film about a dancer who gets her chance on Broadway. The film is remembered today because it gave Fred Astaire his first part in a film, and Crawford danced beside him, and beside Clark Gable, who played the producer who believes in her. She was not a trained dancer in the way Astaire was, but she had danced since she was a girl in Texas, and she worked hard, and she held her own, and the film was a success. It showed audiences that Crawford could sing and dance as well as act, and that she was more than a pretty face.
In 1939, she played Crystal Allen in The Women, a film with an all-female cast, based on a play by Clare Boothe Luce about a group of New York women whose lives are shaken by gossip, by divorce, and by betrayal. Crystal is the other woman, the shopgirl who steals another woman’s husband, and Crawford played her with a cool and open boldness, never pretending that Crystal was innocent, and never asking the audience to pity her. The film starred Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, and Joan Fontaine, and Crawford stood out among them, because Crystal is honest about what she wants, and Crawford let that honesty show.
These three films show why Crawford ruled the 1930s at MGM, because she could play a woman judged by the world, a dancer fighting for a chance, and a woman who takes what she wants, and make each one feel real. She did not hide behind sweet and safe parts, and she did not ask the audience to like her characters, only to believe them. That courage, to play women who were hard to love, is what made her a star, and it is what prepared her for the great dramatic work that came later, when she left MGM and won her Oscar.
Mildred Pierce and the Oscar That Changed Everything
In the early 1940s, Crawford’s career slowed, as it does for many actresses when they grow older, and the parts grew smaller, and the films grew less important, and MGM let her go. She was forty years old, and she was no longer the queen of the studio, and she had to find a new way to work. She went to Warner Bros., a different studio, and she was offered the part of Mildred Pierce, a mother who works hard to give her daughter a better life, and who is betrayed by that daughter, in a film based on a famous novel by James M. Cain.
She took the part, and she played Mildred with a power, a sadness, and an honesty that audiences had never seen before. Mildred was a woman who worked as a waitress, who opened a restaurant, who built a business, and who gave everything to her daughter Veda, only to learn that Veda did not love her, and did not respect her. Crawford played her as a woman who is strong, who is tired, who is hopeful, and who is broken, all at the same time, and the film became a great success, and Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work, in 1945, at the age of forty-one.
The Oscar changed everything. It proved that Crawford was not only a flapper, not only a dancer, not only a pretty face, but a serious actress, a woman who could play a mother, a businesswoman, a woman who works, and a woman who suffers, with a truth that younger actresses could not match. She did not try to be young. She played her age, and she played it with dignity, and audiences loved her for it, because they recognised something true in her, something that felt like real life.
After the Oscar, she played in many other films, in Humoresque, in Possessed, in Sudden Fear, and in each of them she brought the same fire, the same honesty, and the same belief that a character should feel like a real person, not a type. She was nominated for an Academy Award again, for Sudden Fear in 1952, and she kept working, film by film, year by year, because she believed in the work, and because she loved it, and because she did not know how to do anything else.
Baby Jane, Pepsi-Cola, and the Later Years
In 1962, Crawford played in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, a film about two ageing sisters, former child stars, who live together in a decaying house, and who hate each other, and who are trapped by their past. Crawford played Blanche Hudson, a former movie star who is confined to a wheelchair, who is kind, who is gentle, and who is terrorised by her sister Baby Jane, played by Bette Davis. The film was a great success, and it made Crawford famous again, to a new generation of viewers, and it showed that she could still command a screen, still make an audience watch her, still bring a lifetime of skill to a part. She was fifty-eight years old, and she was still one of the best actresses in the world.
The making of the film was difficult, because Crawford and Davis did not like each other, and because they had been rivals for many years, and because each of them wanted to be the star. They fought on set, they argued about their parts, and they made the film hard to make, but the film was a success, and it is still watched today, because the tension between the two actresses made the film feel real, made the hatred between the sisters feel true, and made the audience believe that these two women really did hate each other.
After the film, Crawford kept working, in films, on television, and in business. She married Alfred Steele, the president of Pepsi-Cola, in 1955, and after his death in 1959, she became a member of the board of directors of Pepsi-Cola, travelling the world, promoting the drink, and working as a businesswoman. She liked the work, and she was good at it, because she was disciplined, because she was professional, and because she understood how to sell something, whether it was a film or a soft drink. She was a woman who believed in hard work, in any form, and who did each job with the same care.
She died on 10 May 1977, in New York City, of a heart attack, at the age of seventy-three. She had been ill, and she had been under treatment, and her health had failed, but she had kept working, and she had kept living, until the end. Her death was mourned by actors and directors all over the world, and tributes came from people who had worked with her in every decade of her career. She had won an Oscar, she had been nominated twice more, she had played in some of the most famous films ever made, and she was remembered as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hollywood.
She also played in The Damned Don’t Cry in 1950, a film noir in which she played Ethel Whitehead, a woman who leaves her husband and son, and who becomes involved with gangsters, and who tries to find a better life, only to learn that the life she has chosen is more dangerous than the one she left. The film was a success, and Crawford’s performance was praised for its toughness, its honesty, and its power, and it showed that she could play a woman who is flawed, who is ambitious, and who is trying to survive, with a truth that audiences believed.
She played in Harriet Craig in 1950, a film in which she played a woman who is obsessed with her home, with order, with control, and who destroys her marriage because she cannot let go of that control. The film was a success, and Crawford’s performance was praised, because she played Harriet as a woman who is strong, who is afraid, and who is trapped by her own need for perfection, and the audience could see, in her face, the cost of that perfection.
She played in Johnny Guitar in 1954, a western in which she played Vienna, a saloon owner who is tough, who is independent, and who is hated by the townspeople because she is a woman who will not be controlled. The film was not a great success at the time, but it is now seen as a classic, and Crawford’s performance in it is one of the most interesting things she ever did on screen, because she played Vienna as a woman who is strong, who is proud, and who will not give in, even when the whole town is against her.
She played in Autumn Leaves in 1956, a film in which she played Millicent Wetherby, a woman who marries a younger man, and who learns that he is mentally ill, and who tries to help him, even when it puts her own life in danger. The film was a success, and Crawford’s performance was praised for its warmth, its tenderness, and its honesty, and it showed that she could play a woman who is kind, who is loving, and who is brave, all at the same time.
She also worked in television in her later years, appearing in shows, and in films made for television, and she kept working, kept living, and kept believing that her work mattered, even when the parts were small, even when the films were not what she had hoped for, because she was a professional, and she behaved like one, even when the world had turned against her.
She played in Strait-Jacket in 1964, a horror film directed by William Castle, in which she played Lucy Harbin, a woman who is released from a mental hospital after twenty years, and who is suspected of murder. The film was a success, and Crawford’s performance was praised for its power, its horror, and its honesty, and it showed that she could still command a screen, still make an audience watch her, still bring a lifetime of skill to a part, even when she was sixty years old.
She also played in Torch Song in 1953, a musical drama in which she played Jenny Stewart, a Broadway star who is tough, who is demanding, and who falls in love with a blind pianist, played by Michael Wilding. The film was a success, and Crawford’s performance was praised, because she played Jenny as a woman who is strong on the outside, and soft on the inside, and who learns to be kind, to be gentle, and to love, even when it is hard. She sang and danced in the film, and she showed that she could still do what she had done as a young dancer, thirty years earlier, in Texas, in New York, and in Hollywood.
My Take:
When I think about Joan Crawford, I think about a girl from Texas who had nothing, and who made herself into a star, by working hard, by dancing, by acting, and by refusing to give up. That is the part of her story that stays with me, because it is the most human part. She was not born into fame. She was born into poverty, into a family that broke apart, into a life where money was tight, and she had to earn every step she took. The dance halls, the Broadway stage, the Hollywood film set, each one was a step that she took herself, and I admire that kind of hard work in a girl who had every reason to give up.
I think about her large eyes, and about her strong shoulders, and about the way she carried herself, as if she were a queen, even when she was playing a stenographer, or a waitress, or a mother. That style was not an accident. It was a choice, a choice to be seen, to be remembered, to be strong, and I admire that choice, because it shows that a woman can decide who she wants to be, and can become that woman, by working hard, by being disciplined, and by never giving up. Crawford decided to be a star, and she became one, and she stayed one for more than forty years, and that is a remarkable thing.
The performance in Mildred Pierce is the part of her career that I love the most, because it is a film about a mother who works hard to give her daughter a better life, and who is betrayed by that daughter. Crawford plays Mildred as a woman who is strong, who is tired, who is hopeful, and who is broken, all at the same time, and the audience can see, in her face, the cost of that breaking. She was forty-one when she played the part, and she brought to it a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of working, a lifetime of being a woman who had to fight for everything she had. That is great acting, and it is acting that deserves to be remembered.
What makes me sad about her story is the book her adopted daughter Christina wrote, Mommie Dearest, in 1978, a year after Crawford died, in which Christina said that Crawford had been a cruel and abusive mother. The book hurt Crawford’s reputation, and it made many people think of her as a monster, and I do not know what the truth is, because I was not there, and because a family is a private thing, and because a daughter and a mother can see the same life in very different ways. But I do know that the book was written after Crawford died, when she could not answer it, and that is a sad thing, and it is a thing that makes me think about how we remember people, and about how a single book can change the way the world sees a person.
I also think about her rivalry with Bette Davis, and about the film Baby Jane, and about how two great actresses, who did not like each other, made a film together that is still watched today. They fought on set, they argued, they made each other’s lives difficult, and yet the film is a success, because the tension between them made the film feel real. I think that is a sad thing, in a way, because two talented women could have been friends, could have helped each other, could have worked together, but instead they were rivals, and they spent their lives competing, and that competition made them both better actresses, but it also made them both lonelier.
The work for Pepsi-Cola matters to me, because it shows a different side of Crawford, a side that is not about acting, but about business, about travelling the world, about selling a product, and about working hard in a job that had nothing to do with films. She liked the work, and she was good at it, because she was disciplined, because she was professional, and because she understood how to sell something. That tells me that she was more than an actress, that she was a businesswoman, a worker, a person who believed in hard work, in any form, and who did each job with the same care.
If I have a criticism, it is not really a criticism of Crawford herself. It is a sadness that the film world did not give her more leading roles when she was older, and that she was so often cast as the difficult woman, the ageing star, the mother who is hard to love. She could have played many other kinds of women, and I think she would have been wonderful in them, but the industry saw her age, and her reputation, and put her in a box. She made the box work for her, and she turned it into a long career, but I still wonder what she might have done if she had been given a wider range of parts. That is a question I cannot answer, and it is a question that makes me a little sad.
For a young reader, I think the lesson of Crawford’s life is about remaking yourself, and about the courage to start again. She was a dancer, she was a flapper, she was a dramatic actress, she was a businesswoman, and she was a mother, and she was all of those things at once, and she did each of them by working hard, by being disciplined, and by never giving up. She was fired by MGM, and she went to Warner Bros., and she won an Oscar. She was ageing, and she made Baby Jane, and she became famous again. That is a lesson worth learning, that a life does not end when one chapter ends, and that a person can start again, again and again, if they are willing to work.
I also think about her death, in New York, at seventy-three, of a heart attack, after a long and full life. She had worked hard, she had loved, she had lost, and she had given the world a hundred films, and then she died, quietly, in her home, with her family around her. That is a sad ending, but it is also a dignified ending, a ending that shows that she was a woman who lived on her own terms, and who died on her own terms, and that is a good way to live, and a good way to die.
In the end, I think Joan Crawford teaches us that a woman can be strong, and can be great, at the same time, and that we should not ask women to be sweet, or easy, or likeable, in order to be worthy of respect. She was strong, she was great, and she was worthy of respect, and those three things can live together in one person, and they did, in her. I am glad that she lived to be seventy-three, I am glad that she worked for so long, and I am glad that we still have her films to watch, because in those films, she is still alive, still working, still showing us what a great actress can do.
One more thought stays with me, and it is about the girl in Texas who loved to dance. That girl could not have known that she would one day win an Oscar, or that she would play in Grand Hotel, or Mildred Pierce, or Baby Jane, or that she would die at seventy-three, in New York, after a long and full life. She only knew that she liked to dance, and that she was willing to work hard to learn how. She followed that feeling, step by step, for more than seventy years, and it led her to a life that was rich, full, and full of work that mattered. If a young person reads this story and feels that they have nothing, or that they come from a place that no one has heard of, I hope they think of Joan Crawford, and I hope they remember that a girl with nothing can become a star, if she works hard, and if she never gives up.
I also think about Johnny Guitar, and about how Crawford played Vienna as a woman who owns a saloon, who is tough, who is independent, and who will not be controlled by the men in the town. The film was not a success at the time, but it is now seen as a classic, and Crawford’s performance is the reason why, because she played Vienna as a woman who is strong, who is proud, and who will not give in, even when the whole town is against her. That is a powerful thing to watch, and it is a powerful thing to remember, because it shows what a woman can do when she refuses to be controlled.
There is another part of her story that I find moving, and it is the way she adopted four children, and tried to be a good mother, even when her work took her away from home. She had no children of her own, and she wanted a family, and she adopted Christina, Christopher, Cathy, and Cindy, and she loved them, and she tried to give them a better life than the one she had known as a girl in Texas. I do not know what the truth is about her as a mother, because I was not there, but I do know that she tried, and that trying matters, and that a mother who tries, even when she is busy, even when she is famous, is a good mother.
I think about her style again, and about the large shoulder pads, the bold make-up, the elegant clothes, and the way she carried herself, as if she were a queen. That style was not an accident. It was a choice, a choice to be seen, to be remembered, to be strong, and I admire that choice, because it shows that a woman can decide who she wants to be, and can become that woman, by working hard, by being disciplined, and by never giving up. Crawford decided to be a star, and she became one, and she stayed one for more than forty years.
When I watch Grand Hotel today, I see a film about a group of people in a grand hotel in Berlin, whose lives cross for a few days, and I think about Crawford, and about how she played Flaemmchen as a young woman who dreams of becoming an actress, and who is willing to do anything to make her dream come true. She was twenty-eight when she played the part, and she brought to it a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of being a dancer, a lifetime of wanting more, and that is great acting, and it is acting that deserves to be remembered.
I also think about her work for Pepsi-Cola, and about how she travelled the world, promoting a soft drink, working as a businesswoman, and doing it with the same discipline, the same professionalism, and the same style that she brought to her films. She liked the work, and she was good at it, because she understood how to sell something, whether it was a film or a drink, and that is a skill, and it is a skill that deserves respect, because it shows that she was more than an actress, that she was a worker, a person who believed in hard work, in any form.
I think about her death again, in New York, at seventy-three, of a heart attack, after a long and full life, and about how she died quietly, in her home, with her family around her. That is a sad ending, but it is also a dignified ending, a ending that shows that she was a woman who lived on her own terms, and who died on her own terms, and that is a good way to live, and a good way to die, and I am glad that she did it that way.
Finally, I want to remember her as a girl from Texas who loved to dance, who became a star, who won an Oscar, who worked for Pepsi-Cola, and who lived a long and full life, and who is still remembered today, as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hollywood. She was strong, she was great, and she was worthy of respect, and those three things can live together in one person, and they did, in her, and I am glad that we still have her films to watch, because in those films, she is still alive, still working, and still showing us what a great actress can do.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Academy Awards did Joan Crawford win?
Joan Crawford won one Academy Award for Best Actress, for Mildred Pierce in 1945. She was nominated twice more, for Sudden Fear in 1952 and for Possessed in 1947, but she did not win those times, though her work in both films was widely praised.
What is Joan Crawford best known for?
She is best known for Our Dancing Daughters from 1928, which made her a star, Grand Hotel from 1932, Mildred Pierce from 1945, for which she won an Oscar, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? from 1962, in which she played Blanche Hudson opposite Bette Davis.
Was Joan Crawford’s birth year really 1904?
Her birth year is often given as 1904, but some records say 1905, 1906, or even 1908, and the exact year has been argued about for many years. She was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, and she changed her name to Joan Crawford when she began acting in Hollywood.
Did Joan Crawford work for Pepsi-Cola?
Yes, after her husband Alfred Steele, the president of Pepsi-Cola, died in 1959, she became a member of the board of directors of Pepsi-Cola. She travelled the world promoting the drink, and she worked as a businesswoman for many years, alongside her acting career.
How did Joan Crawford die?
Joan Crawford died on 10 May 1977 in New York City of a heart attack, at the age of seventy-three. She had been ill for some time, but she had kept working and living until the end of her life.
What is the book Mommie Dearest about?
Mommie Dearest is a book written by her adopted daughter Christina Crawford in 1978, a year after Joan Crawford died, in which Christina said that her mother had been cruel and abusive. The book was a bestseller and was later made into a film, but its claims have been argued about, and other members of the family have said different things about Crawford as a mother.
