Person
Joan Crawford
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 debuti…
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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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2025
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2018
The Green Fog
Movie
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2017
Bette and Joan
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2016
Tell Us She Was One of You: The Hollywood Blacklist and 'Johnny Guitar'
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2016
Johnny Guitar: A Western Like No Other
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2016
Johnny Guitar: A Feminist Western?
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2012
The Shirley Eder Tapes
Movie Self
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2012
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2011
Possessed
Movie (archive footage)
- 2010
- 2009
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2009
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2008
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Movie Various Roles (archive footage)
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2007
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Movie Self (archive)
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2007
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2007
Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy
Movie Self (archive footage)
More credits
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2006
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2006
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Movie Self (archive footage) (voice)
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2006
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2005
The Damned Don't Cry: The Crawford Formula - Real and Reel
Movie Self (archive)
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2004
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
Movie Self / Flaemmchen (archive footage)
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2003
Complicated Women
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2002
Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2002
Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2000
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Movie Self (archive footage / uncredited)
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1996
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1995
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1995
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1995
The Casting Couch
Movie
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1994
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1994
That's Entertainment! III
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1994
Gay! Gay! Hollywood
Movie
- 1989
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1984
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Movie (archive footage)
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1983
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Movie Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1982
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Movie (in "Humoresque") (archive footage)
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1982
Showbiz Ballyhoo
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1982
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1976
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1976
That's Entertainment, Part II
Movie (archive footage)
